Young C, Caffrey M, Janton C, Kobayashi T. Reversing the miRNA -5p/-3p stoichiometry reveals physiological roles and targets of miR-140 miRNAs.
RNA (NEW YORK, N.Y.) 2022;
28:854-864. [PMID:
35332065 PMCID:
PMC9074898 DOI:
10.1261/rna.079013.121]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2021] [Accepted: 03/10/2022] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
The chondrocyte-specific miR-140 miRNAs are necessary for normal endochondral bone growth in mice. miR-140 deficiency causes dwarfism and craniofacial deformity. However, the physiologically important targets of miR-140 miRNAs are still unclear. The miR-140 gene (Mir140) encodes three chondrocyte-specific microRNAs, miR-140-5p, derived from the 5' strand of primary miR-140, and miR140-3p.1 and -3p.2, derived from the 3' strand of primary miR-140. miR-140-3p miRNAs are 10 times more abundant than miR-140-5p likely due to the nonpreferential loading of miR-140-5p to Argonaute proteins. To differentiate the role of miR-140-5p and -3p miRNAs in endochondral bone development, two distinct mouse models, miR140-C > T, in which the first nucleotide of miR-140-5p was altered from cytosine to uridine, and miR140-CG, where the first two nucleotides of miR-140-3p were changed to cytosine and guanine, were created. These changes are expected to alter Argonaute protein loading preference of -5p and -3p to increase -5p loading and decrease -3p loading without changing the function of miR140-5p. These models presented a mild delay in epiphyseal development with delayed chondrocyte maturation. Using RNA-sequencing analysis of the two models, direct targets of miR140-5p, including Wnt11, were identified. Disruption of the predicted miR140-5p binding site in the 3' untranslated region of Wnt11 was shown to increase Wnt11 mRNA expression and caused a modest acceleration of epiphyseal development. These results show that the relative abundance of miRNA-5p and -3p can be altered by changing the first nucleotide of miRNAs in vivo, and this method can be useful to identify physiologically important miRNA targets.
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