1
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Wagner V, Meese E, Keller A. The intricacies of isomiRs: from classification to clinical relevance. Trends Genet 2024:S0168-9525(24)00124-0. [PMID: 38862304 DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2024.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2024] [Revised: 05/14/2024] [Accepted: 05/15/2024] [Indexed: 06/13/2024]
Abstract
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) and isoforms of their archetype, called isomiRs, regulate gene expression via complementary base-pair binding to messenger RNAs (mRNAs). The partially evolutionarily conserved isomiR sequence variations are differentially expressed among tissues, populations, and genders, and between healthy and diseased states. Aiming towards the clinical use of isomiRs as diagnostic biomarkers and for therapeutic purposes, several challenges need to be addressed, including (i) clarification of isomiR definition, (ii) improved annotation in databases with new standardization (such as the mirGFF3 format), and (iii) improved methods of isomiR detection, functional verification, and in silico analysis. In this review we discuss the respective challenges, and highlight the opportunities for clinical use of isomiRs, especially in the light of increasing amounts of next-generation sequencing (NGS) data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Viktoria Wagner
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany; Helmholtz-Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Saarland University Campus, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Eckart Meese
- Department of Human Genetics, Saarland University, 66421 Homburg/Saar, Germany
| | - Andreas Keller
- Chair for Clinical Bioinformatics, Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany; Helmholtz-Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Saarland University Campus, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany.
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2
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Tang S, Mao S, Chen Y, Tan F, Duan L, Pian C, Zeng X. LRBmat: A novel gut microbial interaction and individual heterogeneity inference method for colorectal cancer. J Theor Biol 2023; 571:111538. [PMID: 37257720 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2023.111538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2022] [Revised: 05/07/2023] [Accepted: 05/18/2023] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
The gut microbial community has been shown to play a significant role in various diseases, including colorectal cancer (CRC), which is a major public health concern worldwide. The accurate diagnosis and etiological analysis of CRC are crucial issues. Numerous methods have utilized gut microbiota to address these challenges; however, few have considered the complex interactions and individual heterogeneity of the gut microbiota, which are important issues in genetics and intestinal microbiology, particularly in high-dimensional cases. This paper presents a novel method called Binary matrix based on Logistic Regression (LRBmat) to address these concerns. The binary matrix in LRBmat can directly mitigate or eliminate the influence of heterogeneity, while also capturing information on gut microbial interactions with any order. LRBmat is highly adaptable and can be combined with any machine learning method to enhance its capabilities. The proposed method was evaluated using real CRC data and demonstrated superior classification performance compared to state-of-the-art methods. Furthermore, the association rules extracted from the binary matrix of the real data align well with biological properties and existing literature, thereby aiding in the etiological analysis of CRC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shan Tang
- Department of Statistics, Hunan University, Changsha 410006, China
| | - Shanjun Mao
- Department of Statistics, Hunan University, Changsha 410006, China.
| | - Yangyang Chen
- Department of Computer Science, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 3058577, Japan
| | - Falong Tan
- Department of Statistics, Hunan University, Changsha 410006, China
| | - Lihua Duan
- Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Jiangxi Provincial People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, China
| | - Cong Pian
- College of Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
| | - Xiangxiang Zeng
- Department of Computer Science, Hunan University, Changsha 410086, China
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3
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Huang L, Zhang L, Chen X. Updated review of advances in microRNAs and complex diseases: experimental results, databases, webservers and data fusion. Brief Bioinform 2022; 23:6696143. [PMID: 36094095 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbac397] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2022] [Revised: 07/19/2022] [Accepted: 08/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are gene regulators involved in the pathogenesis of complex diseases such as cancers, and thus serve as potential diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets. The prerequisite for designing effective miRNA therapies is accurate discovery of miRNA-disease associations (MDAs), which has attracted substantial research interests during the last 15 years, as reflected by more than 55 000 related entries available on PubMed. Abundant experimental data gathered from the wealth of literature could effectively support the development of computational models for predicting novel associations. In 2017, Chen et al. published the first-ever comprehensive review on MDA prediction, presenting various relevant databases, 20 representative computational models, and suggestions for building more powerful ones. In the current review, as the continuation of the previous study, we revisit miRNA biogenesis, detection techniques and functions; summarize recent experimental findings related to common miRNA-associated diseases; introduce recent updates of miRNA-relevant databases and novel database releases since 2017, present mainstream webservers and new webserver releases since 2017 and finally elaborate on how fusion of diverse data sources has contributed to accurate MDA prediction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Huang
- Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 10084, China.,The Future Laboratory, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 10084, China
| | - Li Zhang
- School of Information and Control Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China
| | - Xing Chen
- School of Information and Control Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China.,Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China
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4
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Moradi A, Whatmore P, Farashi S, Barrero RA, Batra J. IsomiR-eQTL: A Cancer-Specific Expression Quantitative Trait Loci Database of miRNAs and Their Isoforms. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms232012493. [PMID: 36293349 PMCID: PMC9604134 DOI: 10.3390/ijms232012493] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2022] [Revised: 10/06/2022] [Accepted: 10/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The identification of expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) is an important component in efforts to understand how genetic variants influence disease risk. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short noncoding RNA molecules capable of regulating the expression of several genes simultaneously. Recently, several novel isomers of miRNAs (isomiRs) that differ slightly in length and sequence composition compared to their canonical miRNAs have been reported. Here we present isomiR-eQTL, a user-friendly database designed to help researchers find single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that can impact miRNA (miR-eQTL) and isomiR expression (isomiR-eQTL) in 30 cancer types. The isomiR-eQTL includes a total of 152,671 miR-eQTLs and 2,390,805 isomiR-eQTLs at a false discovery rate (FDR) of 0.05. It also includes 65,733 miR-eQTLs overlapping known cancer-associated loci identified through genome-wide association studies (GWAS). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study investigating the impact of SNPs on isomiR expression at the genome-wide level. This database may pave the way for researchers toward finding a model for personalised medicine in which miRNAs, isomiRs, and genotypes are utilised.
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Affiliation(s)
- Afshin Moradi
- Centre for Genomics and Personalised Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4059, Australia
- Translational Research Institute, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4102, Australia
| | - Paul Whatmore
- eResearch, Research Infrastructure, Academic Division, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia
| | - Samaneh Farashi
- Centre for Genomics and Personalised Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4059, Australia
- Translational Research Institute, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4102, Australia
| | - Roberto A. Barrero
- eResearch, Research Infrastructure, Academic Division, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia
| | - Jyotsna Batra
- Centre for Genomics and Personalised Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4059, Australia
- Translational Research Institute, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4102, Australia
- Faculty of Health, School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4059, Australia
- Correspondence:
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5
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Nersisyan S, Gorbonos A, Makhonin A, Zhiyanov A, Shkurnikov M, Tonevitsky A. isomiRTar: a comprehensive portal of pan-cancer 5'-isomiR targeting. PeerJ 2022; 10:e14205. [PMID: 36275459 PMCID: PMC9583861 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.14205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2022] [Accepted: 09/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Inaccurate cleavage of pri- and pre-miRNA hairpins by Drosha and Dicer results in the generation of miRNA isoforms known as isomiRs. isomiRs with 5'-end variations (5'-isomiRs) create a new dimension in miRNA research since they have different seed regions and distinct targetomes. We developed isomiRTar (https://isomirtar.hse.ru)-a comprehensive portal that allows one to analyze expression profiles and targeting activity of 5'-isomiRs in cancer. Using the Cancer Genome Atlas sequencing data, we compiled the list of 1022 5'-isomiRs expressed in 9282 tumor samples across 31 cancer types. Sequences of these isomiRs were used to predict target genes with miRDB and TargetScan. The putative interactions were then subjected to the co-expression analysis in each cancer type to identify isomiR-target pairs supported by significant negative correlations. Downstream analysis of the data deposited in isomiRTar revealed both cancer-specific and cancer-conserved 5'-isomiR expression landscapes. Pairs of isomiRs differing in one nucleotide shift from 5'-end had poorly overlapping targetomes with the median Jaccard index of 0.06. The analysis of colorectal cancer 5'-isomiR-mediated regulatory networks revealed promising candidate tumor suppressor isomiRs: hsa-miR-203a-3p-+1, hsa-miR-192-5p-+1 and hsa-miR-148a-3p-0. In summary, we believe that isomiRTar will help researchers find novel mechanisms of isomiR-mediated gene silencing in different types of cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stepan Nersisyan
- Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia,Institute of Molecular Biology, The National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia,Armenian Bioinformatics Institute (ABI), Yerevan, Armenia,Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | | | - Alexey Makhonin
- Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Anton Zhiyanov
- Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia,Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Maxim Shkurnikov
- Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Alexander Tonevitsky
- Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia,Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia,Art Photonics GmbH, Berlin, Germany
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6
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Aparicio-Puerta E, Hirsch P, Schmartz GP, Fehlmann T, Keller V, Engel A, Kern F, Hackenberg M, Keller A. isomiRdb: microRNA expression at isoform resolution. Nucleic Acids Res 2022; 51:D179-D185. [PMID: 36243964 PMCID: PMC9825445 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkac884] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2022] [Revised: 09/19/2022] [Accepted: 09/30/2022] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
A significant fraction of mature miRNA transcripts carries sequence and/or length variations, termed isomiRs. IsomiRs are differentially abundant in cell types, tissues, body fluids or patients' samples. Not surprisingly, multiple studies describe a physiological and pathophysiological role. Despite their importance, systematically collected and annotated isomiR information available in databases remains limited. We thus developed isomiRdb, a comprehensive resource that compiles miRNA expression data at isomiR resolution from various sources. We processed 42 499 human miRNA-seq datasets (5.9 × 1011 sequencing reads) and consistently analyzed them using miRMaster and sRNAbench. Our database provides online access to the 90 483 most abundant isomiRs (>1 RPM in at least 1% of the samples) from 52 tissues and 188 cell types. Additionally, the full set of over 3 million detected isomiRs is available for download. Our resource can be queried at the sample, miRNA or isomiR level so users can quickly answer common questions about the presence/absence of a particular miRNA/isomiR in tissues of interest. Further, the database facilitates to identify whether a potentially interesting new isoform has been detected before and its frequency. In addition to expression tables, isomiRdb can generate multiple interactive visualisations including violin plots and heatmaps. isomiRdb is free to use and publicly available at: https://www.ccb.uni-saarland.de/isomirdb.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Georges P Schmartz
- Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Tobias Fehlmann
- Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany,Rejuvenome, Astera Institute, Berkeley, CA 94705, USA
| | - Verena Keller
- Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany,Department for Internal Medicine II, Saarland University Hospital, 66421 Homburg, Germany
| | - Annika Engel
- Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Fabian Kern
- Clinical Bioinformatics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany,Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS)–Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Saarland University Campus, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Michael Hackenberg
- Genetics Department, Faculty of Science, Universidad de Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
| | - Andreas Keller
- To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +49 681 30268611; Fax: +49 681 30268610;
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7
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Yang A, Bofill-De Ros X, Stanton R, Shao TJ, Villanueva P, Gu S. TENT2, TUT4, and TUT7 selectively regulate miRNA sequence and abundance. Nat Commun 2022; 13:5260. [PMID: 36071058 PMCID: PMC9452540 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32969-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2022] [Accepted: 08/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
TENTs generate miRNA isoforms by 3' tailing. However, little is known about how tailing regulates miRNA function. Here, we generate isogenic HEK293T cell lines in which TENT2, TUT4 and TUT7 are knocked out individually or in combination. Together with rescue experiments, we characterize TENT-specific effects by deep sequencing, Northern blot and in vitro assays. We find that 3' tailing is not random but highly specific. In addition to its known adenylation, TENT2 contributes to guanylation and uridylation on mature miRNAs. TUT4 uridylates most miRNAs whereas TUT7 is dispensable. Removing adenylation has a marginal impact on miRNA levels. By contrast, abolishing uridylation leads to dysregulation of a set of miRNAs. Besides let-7, miR-181b and miR-222 are negatively regulated by TUT4/7 via distinct mechanisms while the miR-888 cluster is upregulated specifically by TUT7. Our results uncover the selective actions of TENTs in generating 3' isomiRs and pave the way to investigate their functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Acong Yang
- RNA Mediated Gene Regulation Section; RNA Biology Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, 21702, USA
| | - Xavier Bofill-De Ros
- RNA Mediated Gene Regulation Section; RNA Biology Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, 21702, USA
| | - Ryan Stanton
- RNA Mediated Gene Regulation Section; RNA Biology Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, 21702, USA
| | - Tie-Juan Shao
- RNA Mediated Gene Regulation Section; RNA Biology Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, 21702, USA
- School of Basic Medicine, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, 310053, China
| | - Patricia Villanueva
- RNA Mediated Gene Regulation Section; RNA Biology Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, 21702, USA
| | - Shuo Gu
- RNA Mediated Gene Regulation Section; RNA Biology Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, 21702, USA.
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8
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Bofill-De Ros X, Hong Z, Birkenfeld B, Alamo-Ortiz S, Yang A, Dai L, Gu S. Flexible pri-miRNA structures enable tunable production of 5’ isomiRs. RNA Biol 2022; 19:279-289. [PMID: 35188062 PMCID: PMC8865264 DOI: 10.1080/15476286.2022.2025680] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
The Drosha cleavage of a pri-miRNA defines mature microRNA sequence. Drosha cleavage at alternative positions generates 5’ isoforms (isomiRs) which have distinctive functions. To understand how pri-miRNA structures influence Drosha cleavage, we performed a systematic analysis of the maturation of endogenous pri-miRNAs and their variants both in vitro and in vivo. We show that in addition to previously known features, the overall structural flexibility of pri-miRNA impact Drosha cleavage fidelity. Internal loops and nearby G · U wobble pairs on the pri-miRNA stem induce the use of non-canonical cleavage sites by Drosha, resulting in 5’ isomiR production. By analysing patient data deposited in the Cancer Genome Atlas, we provide evidence that alternative Drosha cleavage of pri-miRNAs is a tunable process that responds to the level of pri-miRNA-associated RNA-binding proteins. Together, our findings reveal that Drosha cleavage fidelity can be modulated by altering pri-miRNA structure, a potential mechanism underlying 5’ isomiR biogenesis in tumours. ![]()
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Affiliation(s)
- Xavier Bofill-De Ros
- RNA Mediated Gene Regulation Section, RNA Biology Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, USA
| | - Zhenyi Hong
- Neural Development Section, Mouse Cancer Genetics Program, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, USA
| | - Ben Birkenfeld
- RNA Mediated Gene Regulation Section, RNA Biology Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, USA
| | - Sarangelica Alamo-Ortiz
- RNA Mediated Gene Regulation Section, RNA Biology Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, USA
| | - Acong Yang
- RNA Mediated Gene Regulation Section, RNA Biology Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, USA
| | - Lisheng Dai
- RNA Mediated Gene Regulation Section, RNA Biology Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, USA
| | - Shuo Gu
- RNA Mediated Gene Regulation Section, RNA Biology Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, USA
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9
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Panzade G, Li L, Hebbar S, Veksler-Lublinsky I, Zinovyeva A. Global profiling and annotation of templated isomiRs dynamics across Caenorhabditis elegans development. RNA Biol 2022; 19:928-942. [PMID: 35848953 PMCID: PMC9298154 DOI: 10.1080/15476286.2022.2099646] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
microRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression through translational repression and mRNA destabilization. During canonical miRNA biogenesis, several miRNA isoforms, or isomiRs, are produced from a single precursor miRNA. Templated isomiRs are generated through Drosha or Dicer cleavage at alternate positions on either the primary or the precursor miRNAs, generating truncated or extended 5’ and/or 3’ miRNA ends. As changes to the mature miRNA sequence can alter miRNA gene target repertoire, we investigated the extent of templated isomiR prevalence, providing a profiling map for templated isomiRs across stages of C. elegans development. While most miRNA loci did not produce abundant templated isomiRs, a substantial number of miRNA loci produced isomiRs were just as, or more, abundant than their annotated canonical mature miRNAs. 3’ end miRNA alterations were more frequent than the seed-altering 5’ end extensions or truncations. However, we identified several miRNA loci that produced a considerable amount of isomiRs with 5’ end alterations, predicted to target new, distinct sets of genes. Overall, the presented annotation of templated isomiR dynamics across C. elegans developmental stages provides a basis for further studies into miRNA biogenesis and the intriguing potential of functional miRNA diversification through isomiR production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ganesh Panzade
- Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, USA
| | - Li Li
- Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, USA
| | - Shilpa Hebbar
- Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, USA
| | - Isana Veksler-Lublinsky
- Department of Software and Information Systems Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-sheva, Israel
| | - Anna Zinovyeva
- Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, USA
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10
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Zelli V, Compagnoni C, Capelli R, Corrente A, Cornice J, Vecchiotti D, Di Padova M, Zazzeroni F, Alesse E, Tessitore A. Emerging Role of isomiRs in Cancer: State of the Art and Recent Advances. Genes (Basel) 2021; 12:genes12091447. [PMID: 34573429 PMCID: PMC8469436 DOI: 10.3390/genes12091447] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2021] [Revised: 09/16/2021] [Accepted: 09/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The advent of Next Generation Sequencing technologies brought with it the discovery of several microRNA (miRNA) variants of heterogeneous lengths and/or sequences. Initially ascribed to sequencing errors/artifacts, these isoforms, named isomiRs, are now considered non-canonical variants that originate from physiological processes affecting the canonical miRNA biogenesis. To date, accurate IsomiRs abundance, biological activity, and functions are not completely understood; however, the study of isomiR biology is an area of great interest due to their high frequency in the human miRNome, their putative functions in cooperating with the canonical miRNAs, and potential for exhibiting novel functional roles. The discovery of isomiRs highlighted the complexity of the small RNA transcriptional landscape in several diseases, including cancer. In this field, the study of isomiRs could provide further insights into the miRNA biology and its implication in oncogenesis, possibly providing putative new cancer diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive biomarkers as well. In this review, a comprehensive overview of the state of research on isomiRs in different cancer types, including the most common tumors such as breast cancer, colorectal cancer, melanoma, and prostate cancer, as well as in the less frequent tumors, as for example brain tumors and hematological malignancies, will be summarized and discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Veronica Zelli
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, Via Vetoio, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy; (V.Z.); (C.C.); (R.C.); (A.C.); (J.C.); (D.V.); (M.D.P.); (F.Z.); (E.A.)
- Center for Molecular Diagnostics and Advanced Therapies, University of L’Aquila, Via Petrini, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy
| | - Chiara Compagnoni
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, Via Vetoio, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy; (V.Z.); (C.C.); (R.C.); (A.C.); (J.C.); (D.V.); (M.D.P.); (F.Z.); (E.A.)
| | - Roberta Capelli
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, Via Vetoio, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy; (V.Z.); (C.C.); (R.C.); (A.C.); (J.C.); (D.V.); (M.D.P.); (F.Z.); (E.A.)
| | - Alessandra Corrente
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, Via Vetoio, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy; (V.Z.); (C.C.); (R.C.); (A.C.); (J.C.); (D.V.); (M.D.P.); (F.Z.); (E.A.)
| | - Jessica Cornice
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, Via Vetoio, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy; (V.Z.); (C.C.); (R.C.); (A.C.); (J.C.); (D.V.); (M.D.P.); (F.Z.); (E.A.)
| | - Davide Vecchiotti
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, Via Vetoio, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy; (V.Z.); (C.C.); (R.C.); (A.C.); (J.C.); (D.V.); (M.D.P.); (F.Z.); (E.A.)
| | - Monica Di Padova
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, Via Vetoio, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy; (V.Z.); (C.C.); (R.C.); (A.C.); (J.C.); (D.V.); (M.D.P.); (F.Z.); (E.A.)
| | - Francesca Zazzeroni
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, Via Vetoio, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy; (V.Z.); (C.C.); (R.C.); (A.C.); (J.C.); (D.V.); (M.D.P.); (F.Z.); (E.A.)
| | - Edoardo Alesse
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, Via Vetoio, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy; (V.Z.); (C.C.); (R.C.); (A.C.); (J.C.); (D.V.); (M.D.P.); (F.Z.); (E.A.)
| | - Alessandra Tessitore
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, Via Vetoio, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy; (V.Z.); (C.C.); (R.C.); (A.C.); (J.C.); (D.V.); (M.D.P.); (F.Z.); (E.A.)
- Center for Molecular Diagnostics and Advanced Therapies, University of L’Aquila, Via Petrini, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +39-0862433518; Fax: +39-0862433131
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