Banana streak GF virus (BSGFV) is the extremely dangerous monopartite badnavirus (genus, Badnavirus; family, Caulimoviridae) of banana (Musa acuminata AAA Group) that imposes a serious threat to global banana production. The BSGFV causes a devastating pandemic in banana crops, transmitted by deadly insect pest mealybug vectors and replicated through an RNA intermediate. The BSGFV is a reverse-transcribing DNA virus that has a monopartite open circular double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) genome with a length of 7325 bp. RNA interference (RNAi) is a natural mechanism that has revolutionized the target gene regulation of various organisms to combat virus infection. The current study aims to locate the potential target binding sites of banana-encoded microRNAs (mac-miRNAs) on the BSGFV-dsDNA-encoded mRNAs based on three algorithms, RNA22, RNAhybrid and TAPIR. Mature banana (2n = 3x = 33) miRNAs (n = 32) were selected and hybridized to the BSGFV genome (MN296502). Among the 32 targeted mature locus-derived mac-miRNAs investigated, two banana mac-miRNA homologs (mac-miR162a and mac-miR172b) were identified as promising naturally occurring biomolecules to have binding affinity at nucleotide positions 5502 and 9 of the BSGFV genome. The in silico banana-genome-encoded mac-miRNA/mbg-miRNA-regulatory network was developed with the BSGFV—ORFs using Circos software (version 0.69-9) to identify potential therapeutic target proteins. Therefore, the current work provides useful biological material and opens a new range of opportunities for generating BSGFV-resistant banana plants through the genetic manipulation of the selected miRNAs.

Banana streak GF virus (BSGFV) is the extremely dangerous monopartite badnavirus (genus, Badnavirus; family, Caulimoviridae) of banana (Musa acuminata AAA Group) that imposes a serious threat to global banana production. The BSGFV causes a devastating pandemic in banana crops, transmitted by deadly insect pest mealybug vectors and replicate through an RNA intermediate. The BSGFV is a reverse-transcribing DNA virus that has a monopartite open circular double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) genome with a length of 7325 bp. RNA interference (RNAi) is a natural mechanism that has revolutionized target gene regulation of various organisms to combat virus infection. The current study aims to locate the potential target binding sites of banana-encoded microRNAs (mac-miRNAs) on the BSGFV dsDNA-encoded mRNAs, based on three algorithms, RNA22, RNAhybrid and TAPIR. Mature banana (2n = 3x = 33) miRNAs (n = 32) were selected and hybridized to the BSGFV genome (MN296502). Among the 32 targeted mature locus-derived mac-miRNAs investigated, two banana mac-miRNA homologs (mac-miR162a and mac-miR172b) were identified as promising naturally occurring biomolecules, to have binding affinity at nucleotide positions 5502 and 9 of the BSGFV genome. The in silico banana genome-encoded mac-miRNA/mbg-miRNA-regulatory network was developed with the BSGFV— ORFs using Circos software to identify potential therapeutic target proteins. Therefore, the current work provides useful biological material and opens a new range of opportunities for generating BSGFV-resistant banana plants through genetic manipulation of the selected miRNAs.

Banana bract mosaic virus (BBrMV) is the most economically damaging and deleterious Potyvirus pathogen (family, Potyviridae) of banana (2n = 3x = 33) that causes significant losses to banana production Asia. The BBrMV has a single-stranded, positive sense ssRNA genome of 9708 nucleotides. RNA interference (RNAi) is an evolutionarily conserved biological potent intracellular response mechanism in eukaryotic organisms and is an antagonist of virus replication. The current study focuses on the role of banana genome-encoded microRNAs (mac-miRNAs) targeting +ssRNA genome of the BBrMV using in-silico predictive algorithms, RNA22, RNAhybrid, TAPIR and psRNATarget. Mature banana locus-derived mac-miRNA sequences (n = 32) were tested for alignment with the BBrMV genomic +ssRNA (NCBI accession No. MG758140). In total we extrapolated 32 mature banana miRNAs, only two of which are potentially efficient miRNAs (mac-miR157b and mbg-miR397a) to have high-affinity target sites in the BBrMV genome. To identify emerging therapeutic targets, we utilized Circos software to develop a network illustrating potential mechanistic RNA-RNA interactions, based on robust prediction algorithms. Our findings provide the first in silico evidence of multiple dynamic tenacious interaction between banana high-confidence miRNAs and Potyvirus genome. This work represents a critical step towards proactive biosecurity preparedness, offering a predictive framework for engineering BBrMV-resistant banana plants and safeguarding domestic banana production.