Retroviral microRNAs

• Virus–host cell interaction.
• RNAi mechanism.
• Virus replication.
• Viral miRNAs.
• HIV-1 TAR RNA.

Eukaryotic cells and several DNA viruses encode miRNAs to regulate the expression of specific target genes. It has been controversial whether RNA viruses can encode such miRNAs as miRNA excision may lead to cleavage of the viral RNA genome. We will focus on the retrovirus family, HIV-1 in particular, and discuss the production of virus-encoded miRNAs and their putative function in the viral replication cycle. An intricate scenario of multi-layer virus–host interactions becomes apparent with small RNAs as the regulatory molecules.