Modulation of microRNA Activity by Semi-microRNAs

The ribonuclease Dicer plays a central role in the microRNA pathway by catalyzing the formation of 19–24-nucleotide (nt) long microRNAs. Subsequently incorporated into Argonaute 2 (Ago2) effector complexes, microRNAs are known to regulate messenger RNA (mRNA) translation. Whether shorter RNA species...

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Main Authors:	Plante, Isabelle, Plé, Hélène, Landry, Patricia, Gunaratne, Preethi H., Provost, Patrick
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Frontiers Research Foundation 2012
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3366366/

id	pubmed-3366366
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-33663662012-06-06 Modulation of microRNA Activity by Semi-microRNAs Plante, Isabelle Plé, Hélène Landry, Patricia Gunaratne, Preethi H. Provost, Patrick Genetics The ribonuclease Dicer plays a central role in the microRNA pathway by catalyzing the formation of 19–24-nucleotide (nt) long microRNAs. Subsequently incorporated into Argonaute 2 (Ago2) effector complexes, microRNAs are known to regulate messenger RNA (mRNA) translation. Whether shorter RNA species derived from microRNAs exist and play a role in mRNA regulation remains unknown. Here, we report the serendipitous discovery of a 12-nt long RNA species corresponding to the 5′ region of the microRNA let-7, and tentatively termed semi-microRNA, or smiRNA. Using a smiRNA derived from the precursor of miR-223 as a model, we show that 12-nt long smiRNA species are devoid of any direct mRNA regulatory activity, as assessed in a reporter gene activity assay in transfected cultured human cells. However, smiR-223 was found to modulate the ability of the microRNA from which it derives to mediate translational repression or cleavage of reporter mRNAs. Our findings suggest that the 12-nt RNA species, generated along the microRNA pathway, may participate to the control of gene expression by regulating the activity of the related full-length mature microRNA in vivo. Frontiers Research Foundation 2012-06-04 /pmc/articles/PMC3366366/ /pubmed/22675332 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2012.00099 Text en Copyright © 2012 Plante, Plé, Landry, Gunaratne and Provost. http://www.frontiersin.org/licenseagreement This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License, which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in other forums, provided the original authors and source are credited.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Plante, Isabelle Plé, Hélène Landry, Patricia Gunaratne, Preethi H. Provost, Patrick
spellingShingle	Plante, Isabelle Plé, Hélène Landry, Patricia Gunaratne, Preethi H. Provost, Patrick Modulation of microRNA Activity by Semi-microRNAs
author_facet	Plante, Isabelle Plé, Hélène Landry, Patricia Gunaratne, Preethi H. Provost, Patrick
author_sort	Plante, Isabelle
title	Modulation of microRNA Activity by Semi-microRNAs
title_short	Modulation of microRNA Activity by Semi-microRNAs
title_full	Modulation of microRNA Activity by Semi-microRNAs
title_fullStr	Modulation of microRNA Activity by Semi-microRNAs
title_full_unstemmed	Modulation of microRNA Activity by Semi-microRNAs
title_sort	modulation of microrna activity by semi-micrornas
description	The ribonuclease Dicer plays a central role in the microRNA pathway by catalyzing the formation of 19–24-nucleotide (nt) long microRNAs. Subsequently incorporated into Argonaute 2 (Ago2) effector complexes, microRNAs are known to regulate messenger RNA (mRNA) translation. Whether shorter RNA species derived from microRNAs exist and play a role in mRNA regulation remains unknown. Here, we report the serendipitous discovery of a 12-nt long RNA species corresponding to the 5′ region of the microRNA let-7, and tentatively termed semi-microRNA, or smiRNA. Using a smiRNA derived from the precursor of miR-223 as a model, we show that 12-nt long smiRNA species are devoid of any direct mRNA regulatory activity, as assessed in a reporter gene activity assay in transfected cultured human cells. However, smiR-223 was found to modulate the ability of the microRNA from which it derives to mediate translational repression or cleavage of reporter mRNAs. Our findings suggest that the 12-nt RNA species, generated along the microRNA pathway, may participate to the control of gene expression by regulating the activity of the related full-length mature microRNA in vivo.
publisher	Frontiers Research Foundation
publishDate	2012
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3366366/
_version_	1611534399993544704

Modulation of microRNA Activity by Semi-microRNAs

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