viruses Article Asian Zika Virus Isolate Significantly Changes the Transcriptional Profile and Alternative RNA Splicing Events in a Neuroblastoma Cell Line Gaston Bonenfant 1,2, Ryan Meng 2, Carl Shotwell 2,3 , Pheonah Badu 1,2, Anne F. Payne 4, Alexander T. Ciota 4,5, Morgan A. Sammons 1, J. Andrew Berglund 1,2 and Cara T. Pager 1,2,* 1 Department of Biological Sciences, University at Albany-SUNY, Albany, NY 12222, USA;
[email protected] (G.B.);
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[email protected] (J.A.B.) 2 The RNA Institute, University at Albany-SUNY, Albany, NY 12222, USA;
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[email protected] (C.S.) 3 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA 4 Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH), Slingerlands, NY 12159, USA;
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[email protected] (A.T.C.) 5 Department of Biomedical Sciences, University at Albany-SUNY, School of Public Health, Rensselaer, NY 12144, USA * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +1-518-591-8841 Received: 9 April 2020; Accepted: 27 April 2020; Published: 5 May 2020 Abstract: The alternative splicing of pre-mRNAs expands a single genetic blueprint to encode multiple, functionally diverse protein isoforms. Viruses have previously been shown to interact with, depend on, and alter host splicing machinery. The consequences, however, incited by viral infection on the global alternative slicing (AS) landscape are under-appreciated. Here, we investigated the transcriptional and alternative splicing profile of neuronal cells infected with a contemporary Puerto Rican Zika virus (ZIKVPR) isolate, an isolate of the prototypical Ugandan ZIKV (ZIKVMR), and dengue virus 2 (DENV2).