Human MicroRNA targets

Analysis of a noncanonical poly(A) site reveals a tripartite mechanism for vertebrate poly(A) site recognition

At least half of all human pre-mRNAs are subject to alternative 3' processing that may modulate both the coding capacity of the message and the array of post-transcriptional regulatory elements embedded within the 3' UTR. Vertebrate poly(A) site selection appears to rely primarily on the binding of CPSF to an A(A/U)UAAA hexamer upstream of the cleavage site and CstF to a downstream GU-rich element. At least one-quarter of all human poly(A) sites, however, lack the A(A/U)UAAA motif. We report that sequence-specific RNA binding of the human 3' processing factor CFI(m) can function as a primary determinant of poly(A) site recognition in the absence of the A(A/U)UAAA motif. CFI(m) is sufficient to direct sequence-specific, A(A/U)UAAA-independent poly(A) addition in vitro through the recruitment of the CPSF subunit hFip1 and poly(A) polymerase to the RNA substrate. ChIP analysis indicates that CFI(m) is recruited to the transcription unit, along with CPSF and CstF, during the initial stages of transcription, supporting a direct role for CFI(m) in poly(A) site recognition. The recognition of three distinct sequence elements by CFI(m), CPSF, and CstF suggests that vertebrate poly(A) site definition is mechanistically more similar to that of yeast and plants than anticipated.

Processing of pre-microRNAs by the Dicer-1-Loquacious complex in Drosophila cells

microRNAs (miRNAs) are a large family of 21- to 22-nucleotide non-coding RNAs that interact with target mRNAs at specific sites to induce cleavage of the message or inhibit translation. miRNAs are excised in a stepwise process from primary miRNA (pri-miRNA) transcripts. The Drosha-Pasha/DGCR8 complex in the nucleus cleaves pri-miRNAs to release hairpin-shaped precursor miRNAs (pre-miRNAs). These pre-miRNAs are then exported to the cytoplasm and further processed by Dicer to mature miRNAs. Here we show that Drosophila Dicer-1 interacts with Loquacious, a double-stranded RNA-binding domain protein. Depletion of Loquacious results in pre-miRNA accumulation in Drosophila S2 cells, as is the case for depletion of Dicer-1. Immuno-affinity purification experiments revealed that along with Dicer-1, Loquacious resides in a functional pre-miRNA processing complex, and stimulates and directs the specific pre-miRNA processing activity. These results support a model in which Loquacious mediates miRNA biogenesis and, thereby, the expression of genes regulated by miRNAs.

This and an accompanying paper by Förstemann et al. identify Loquacious, which encodes a double-stranded RNA binding domain protein, and partners with Dicer-1 in the processing of microRNAs.

Plant and animal microRNAs: similarities and differences

Plant and animal microRNAs (miRNAs) are evolutionarily ancient small RNAs, approximately 19-24 nucleotides in length, that are generated by cleavage from larger highly structured precursor molecules. In both plants and animals, miRNAs posttranscriptionally regulate gene expression through interactions with their target mRNAs, and these targets are often genes involved with regulating key developmental events. Despite these similarities, plant and animal miRNAs exert their control in fundamentally different ways. Generally, animal miRNAs repress gene expression by mediating translational attenuation through (multiple) miRNA-binding sites located within the 3' untranslated region of the target gene. In contrast, almost all plant miRNAs regulate their targets by directing mRNA cleavage at single sites in the coding regions. These and other differences suggest that the two systems may have originated independently, possibly as a prerequisite to the development of complex body plans.

MicroRNA: biological and computational perspective

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenously expressed non-coding RNAs of 20-24 nucleotides, which post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression in plants and animals. Recently it has been recognized that miRNAs comprise one of the abundant gene families in multicellular species, and their regulatory functions in various biological processes are widely spread. There has been a surge in the research activities in this field in the past few years. From the very beginning, computational methods have been utilized as indispensable tools, and many discoveries have been obtained through combination of experimental and computational approaches. In this review, both biological and computational aspects of miRNA will be discussed. A brief history of the discovery of miRNA and discussion of microarray applications in miRNA research are also included.

Linear motifs: evolutionary interaction switches

Linear motifs are short sequence patterns associated with a particular function. They differ fundamentally from longer, globular protein domains in terms of their binding affinities, evolution and in how they are found experimentally or computationally. In this Minireview, we discuss various aspects of these critically important functional regions.

Combinatorial microRNA target predictions

MicroRNAs are small noncoding RNAs that recognize and bind to partially complementary sites in the 3' untranslated regions of target genes in animals and, by unknown mechanisms, regulate protein production of the target transcript. Different combinations of microRNAs are expressed in different cell types and may coordinately regulate cell-specific target genes. Here, we present PicTar, a computational method for identifying common targets of microRNAs. Statistical tests using genome-wide alignments of eight vertebrate genomes, PicTar's ability to specifically recover published microRNA targets, and experimental validation of seven predicted targets suggest that PicTar has an excellent success rate in predicting targets for single microRNAs and for combinations of microRNAs. We find that vertebrate microRNAs target, on average, roughly 200 transcripts each. Furthermore, our results suggest widespread coordinate control executed by microRNAs. In particular, we experimentally validate common regulation of Mtpn by miR-375, miR-124 and let-7b and thus provide evidence for coordinate microRNA control in mammals.

A computational view of microRNAs and their targets

Small non-coding RNAs called microRNAs have been shown to play important roles in gene regulation across a broad range of metazoans from plants to humans. In this review, the nature and function of microRNAs will be discussed, with special emphasis on the computational tools and databases available to predict microRNAs and the genes they target.

MicroRNAs regulate brain morphogenesis in zebrafish

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small RNAs that regulate gene expression posttranscriptionally. To block all miRNA formation in zebrafish, we generated maternal-zygotic dicer (MZdicer) mutants that disrupt the Dicer ribonuclease III and double-stranded RNA-binding domains. Mutant embryos do not process precursor miRNAs into mature miRNAs, but injection of preprocessed miRNAs restores gene silencing, indicating that the disrupted domains are dispensable for later steps in silencing. MZdicer mutants undergo axis formation and differentiate multiple cell types but display abnormal morphogenesis during gastrulation, brain formation, somitogenesis, and heart development. Injection of miR-430 miRNAs rescues the brain defects in MZdicer mutants, revealing essential roles for miRNAs during morphogenesis.

Accumulation of miR-155 and BIC RNA in human B cell lymphomas

We show that the microRNA miR-155 can be processed from sequences present in BIC RNA, a spliced and polyadenylated but non-protein-coding RNA that accumulates in lymphoma cells. The precursor of miR-155 is likely a transient spliced or unspliced nuclear BIC transcript rather than accumulated BIC RNA, which is primarily cytoplasmic. By using a sensitive and quantitative assay, we find that clinical isolates of several types of B cell lymphomas, including diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), have 10- to 30-fold higher copy numbers of miR-155 than do normal circulating B cells. Similarly, the quantities of BIC RNA are elevated in lymphoma cells, but ratios of the amounts of the two RNAs are not constant, suggesting that the level of miR-155 is controlled by transcription and processing. Significantly higher levels of miR-155 are present in DLBCLs with an activated B cell phenotype than with the germinal center phenotype. Because patients with activated B cell-type DLBCL have a poorer clinical prognosis, quantification of this microRNA may be diagnostically useful.

The human DiGeorge syndrome critical region gene 8 and Its D. melanogaster homolog are required for miRNA biogenesis

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) represent a family of small noncoding RNAs that are found in plants and animals (for recent reviews, see ). miRNAs are expressed in a developmentally and tissue-specific manner and regulate the translational efficiency and stability of partial or fully sequence-complementary mRNAs. miRNAs are excised in a stepwise process from double-stranded RNA precursors that are embedded in long RNA polymerase II primary transcripts (pri-miRNA). Drosha RNase III catalyzes the first excision event, the release in the nucleus of a hairpin RNA (pre-miRNA), which is followed by export of the pre-miRNA to the cytoplasm and further processing by Dicer to mature miRNAs. Here, we characterize the human DGCR8, the DiGeorge syndrome critical region gene 8, and its Drosophila melanogaster homolog. We provide biochemical and cell-based readouts to demonstrate the requirement of DGCR8 for the maturation of miRNA primary transcripts. RNAi knockdown experiments of fly and human DGCR8 resulted in accumulation of pri-miRNAs and reduction of pre-miRNAs and mature miRNAs. Our results suggest that DGCR8 and Drosha interact in human cells and reside in a functional pri-miRNA processing complex.

The Temporal Patterning MicroRNA let-7 Regulates Several Transcription Factors at the Larval to Adult Transition in C. elegans

The let-7 microRNA is phylogenetically conserved and temporally expressed in many animals. C. elegans let-7 controls terminal differentiation in a stem cell-like lineage in the hypodermis, while human let-7 has been implicated in lung cancer. To elucidate let-7's role in temporal control of nematode development, we used sequence analysis and reverse genetics to identify candidate let-7 target genes. We show that the nuclear hormone receptor daf-12 is a let-7 target in seam cells, while the forkhead transcription factor pha-4 is a target in the intestine. Additional likely targets are the zinc finger protein die-1 and the putative chromatin remodeling factor lss-4. Together with the previous identification of the hunchback ortholog hbl-1 as a let-7 target in the ventral nerve cord, our findings show that let-7 acts in at least three tissues to regulate different transcription factors, raising the possibility of let-7 as a master temporal regulator.

Depletion of human micro-RNA miR-125b reveals that it is critical for the proliferation of differentiated cells but not for the down-regulation of putative targets during differentiation

Micro-RNAs are small non-coding RNAs that regulate target gene expression post-transcriptionally through base pairing with the target messenger RNA. Functional characterization of micro-RNAs awaits robust experimental methods to knock-down a micro-RNA as well as to assay its function in vivo. In addition to the recently developed method to sequester micro-RNA with 2'-O-methyl antisense oligonucleotide, we report that small interfering RNA against the loop region of a micro-RNA precursor can be used to deplete the micro-RNA. The depletion of miR-125b by this method had a profound effect on the proliferation of adult differentiated cancer cells, and this proliferation defect was rescued by co-transfected mature micro-RNA. This technique has unique advantages over the 2'-O-methyl antisense oligonucleotide and can be used to determine micro-RNA function, assay micro-RNAs in vivo, and identify the contribution of a predicted micro-RNA precursor to the pool of mature micro-RNA in a given cell. miR-125b and let-7 micro-RNAs are induced, whereas their putative targets, lin-28 and lin-41, are decreased during in vitro differentiation of Tera-2 or embryonic stem cells. Experimental increase or decrease of micro-RNA concentrations did not, however, affect the levels of the targets, a finding that is explained by the fact that the down-regulation of the targets appears to be mostly at the transcriptional level in these in vitro differentiation systems. Collectively these results reveal the importance of micro-RNA depletion strategies for directly determining micro-RNA function in vivo.

Phylogenetic shadowing and computational identification of human microRNA genes

We sequenced 122 miRNAs in 10 primate species to reveal conservation characteristics of miRNA genes. Strong conservation is observed in stems of miRNA hairpins and increased variation in loop sequences. Interestingly, a striking drop in conservation was found for sequences immediately flanking the miRNA hairpins. This characteristic profile was employed to predict novel miRNAs using cross-species comparisons. Nine hundred and seventy-six candidate miRNAs were identified by scanning whole-genome human/mouse and human/rat alignments. Most of the novel candidates are conserved also in other vertebrates (dog, cow, chicken, opossum, zebrafish). Northern blot analysis confirmed the expression of mature miRNAs for 16 out of 69 representative candidates. Additional support for the expression of 179 novel candidates can be found in public databases, their presence in gene clusters, and literature that appeared after these predictions were made. Taken together, these results suggest the presence of significantly higher numbers of miRNAs in the human genome than previously estimated.

Microarray analysis shows that some microRNAs downregulate large numbers of target mRNAs

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of noncoding RNAs that post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression in plants and animals. To investigate the influence of miRNAs on transcript levels, we transfected miRNAs into human cells and used microarrays to examine changes in the messenger RNA profile. Here we show that delivering miR-124 causes the expression profile to shift towards that of brain, the organ in which miR-124 is preferentially expressed, whereas delivering miR-1 shifts the profile towards that of muscle, where miR-1 is preferentially expressed. In each case, about 100 messages were downregulated after 12 h. The 3' untranslated regions of these messages had a significant propensity to pair to the 5' region of the miRNA, as expected if many of these messages are the direct targets of the miRNAs. Our results suggest that metazoan miRNAs can reduce the levels of many of their target transcripts, not just the amount of protein deriving from these transcripts. Moreover, miR-1 and miR-124, and presumably other tissue-specific miRNAs, seem to downregulate a far greater number of targets than previously appreciated, thereby helping to define tissue-specific gene expression in humans.

Conserved Seed Pairing, Often Flanked by Adenosines, Indicates that Thousands of Human Genes are MicroRNA Targets

We predict regulatory targets of vertebrate microRNAs (miRNAs) by identifying mRNAs with conserved complementarity to the seed (nucleotides 2-7) of the miRNA. An overrepresentation of conserved adenosines flanking the seed complementary sites in mRNAs indicates that primary sequence determinants can supplement base pairing to specify miRNA target recognition. In a four-genome analysis of 3' UTRs, approximately 13,000 regulatory relationships were detected above the estimate of false-positive predictions, thereby implicating as miRNA targets more than 5300 human genes, which represented 30% of our gene set. Targeting was also detected in open reading frames. In sum, well over one third of human genes appear to be conserved miRNA targets.

Right hepatic lobectomy in elderly patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND/AIMS

The outcome of hepatectomy in elderly patients with hepatocellular carcinoma have been reported, however neither the morphological nor functional hepatic regeneration in elderly patients have been fully investigated.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Fifty-six patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, who underwent a right hepatic lobectomy over an 8-year period, were classified into three groups according to their age; group 1 (n = 7), more than 70 years of age; group 2 (n = 40), patients from 50 to 69 years of age and group 3 (n = 9), under 50 years of age. There were no significant differences regarding backgrounds or intra-operative parameters among the three groups. The perioperative hepatic function, postoperative complications and the regeneration rate of the remnant left lobe at 1 month after operation were compared.

RESULTS

No differences were found in the regeneration rate, however, the levels of the hepaplastin test and lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase at 7 days after hepatectomy in group 1 (31.3%, 8.8 U) were significantly lower than those in groups 2 and 3 (37.4%, 18.4 U; 47.9%, 29.4 U, respectively). The incidence of hospital death due to hepatic failure in group 1 (42.9%) was also significantly higher than that of group 2 (5.0%) or group 3 (0%).

CONCLUSION

The decline of postoperative protein synthesis regardless of the voluminal regeneration is a characteristic of the elderly. This phenomenon might thus be an important promoter of postoperative hepatic failure which remains unpredictable using any type of examination. Therefore, at this time, a major hepatectomy is not recommended as a viable treatment alternative in the elderly.

Multistage neoplastic transformation of Syrian hamster embryo cells cultured at pH 6.70

MicroRNAs are major post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression. Here we show in the ancient protozoan Giardia lamblia a snoRNA-derived 26-nucleotide microRNA, miR3, which represses the translation of histone H2A mRNA containing an imperfect target but enhances translation when the target is made fully complementary. A stepwise mutational analysis of the fully complementary target showed that the activating effect of miR3 was significantly reduced when a single nucleotide at the 5′-end of the target was altered. The effect of miR3 became repressive when 12 of the nucleotides lost their complementation to miR3 with maximum repression reached when only 8 base-pairs remained between the miR3 seed sequence and the target. A synthetic 8-nucleotide RNA oligomer of the miR3 seed sequence was found capable of exerting a similar Argonaute-dependent translational repression. This is the first report showing a correlation between the extent of base-pairing with the target and a change in miRNA function.