植物MicroRNA功能的研究进展

MicroRNA(miRNA)是真核生物基因表达的一类负调控因子,植物miRNA主要在转录水平上通过介导靶基因的甲基化、在转录后水平介导靶mRNA的切割或降低靶mRNA的翻译来调节基因的表达,从而调控植物器官的形态建成、生长发育、激素分泌与信号转导以及植物对逆境胁迫因素的应答能力。该文主要综述了近年来植物miRNA在植物生长发育、激素调节与信号转导以及逆境胁迫应答中的重要作用,并针对miRNA的网络调控特征提出了今后miRNA功能研究的方向。     

miRNA对水稻生长发育的调控

MicroRNA(miRNA)是一类小的非编码RNA,它们主要在转录后水平对靶mRNA进行切割或抑制mRNA的翻译来调控基因的表达. miRNA通过对靶基因的调控参与植物的生长发育、胁迫应答和代谢过程.在水稻中,已经发现并初步验证了许多与生长发育相关的miRNA,它们对水稻不同器官和形态发育发挥着重要作用.本文综述了水稻miRNA的发生和调控机制、靶基因的预测,重点介绍了miRNA对水稻生长发育和形态建成的研究进展,并对研究过程中存在的问题进行了讨论.为更好地了解miRNA及其靶基因在提高水稻产量和品质方面的作用,进一步解析miRNA在水稻中的调控机制提供参考.     

植物microRNA与逆境响应研究进展

MieroRNA(miRNA)是一类在生物体内普遍存在的非编码、长度约16～29 nt的小分子RNA,由内源基因编码,于转录后水平通过介导靶mRNA降解或翻译抑制调控基因表达,是真核细胞基因表达的重要调控因子.随着生物信息学与研究技术的发展,越来越多的植物miRNA得到预测和验证.逆境胁迫下,植物体诱导或下调相关miRNA表达,参与植物逆境生理调节与适应.文章综述了植物miRNA生物合成、与靶基因的作用方式,生物功能以及逆境胁迫响应miRNA,概要介绍了目前常用的miRNA研究方法.     

植物miRNA靶基因验证研究进展

植物microRNA(miRNA)可以利用碱基互补配对原则对靶基因进行识别并介导靶基因(mRNA)的切割或翻译抑制,以此机制来调控靶基因的表达。主要从作用方式及实验体系两大方面入手,综述了植物miRNA与其靶基因的作用机制,以及植物miRNA靶基因验证方法的研究进展,旨在更深入的探究miRNA与其靶基因的作用关系。     

植物miRNA的分子特征及其在逆境中的响应机制

逆境胁迫是影响植物生长发育、生物产量与品质形成的主要因素之一。通过诱导表达抗逆有关的编码基因与部分非编码基因是植物响应逆境的主要方式。miRNA作为一种非编码基因在植物生长、发育以及抗逆等过程中起重要的调控作用。研究表明:逆境胁迫下miRNA可以形成miRNA诱导沉默复合物(miRNA-induced silencing complex,miRISC),并与靶mRNA互补配对结合,进而引起靶mRNA的降解或者抑制其翻译,从而实现对下游抗逆相关基因表达的调控,最终引起代谢与信号转导途径的变化实现对逆境的响应。本文从植物逆境胁迫下诱导miRNA的产生、靶基因的识别以及作用机制等方面进行了综述。     

植物miRNA抗胁迫机理研究进展

植物microRNA（miRNA）是一类约有21个核苷酸组成的小RNA分子,属于非编码单链RNA家族。miRNA与靶mRNA互补配对结合,以抑制基因表达或切割mRNA的方式,实现基因的负调控。miRNA对植物基因表达、生长发育和抵抗胁迫等有十分重要的影响。综述了植物miRNA特点以及miRNA抗胁迫机理的最新研究进展。     

microRNA172参与植物生长发育及逆境响应的研究进展

microRNA(miRNA)是一类长约20~25个核苷酸的非编码小分子RNA,通过和靶基因mRNA上的一些特定序列结合,诱导靶基因mRNA被剪切或抑制其翻译,从而在转录后水平调控植物的生长发育和对逆境的响应。microR172(miR172)是植物中一个保守的miRNA家族,通过靶向调控AP2和AP2-Like基因在植物发育和环境适应中发挥着不可或缺的作用。已有的研究表明,miR172及其靶基因不仅在植物的时序转换中是一个关键调控因子,也在花器官发育、土豆块茎形成、豆科结瘤和逆境响应等过程中发挥着重要调控作用。现将重点阐述这个明星miRNA在植物生长发育及对环境因子应答过程中的研究进展,以期为深入解析miR172靶基因的作用机理和分子调控网络提供参考。     

动植物miRNA的生物合成、作用机理及其功能

microRNAs(miRNAs)是生物体内源长度约为20—23个核苷酸的非编码小RNA,通过与靶mRNA的互补配对而在转录后水平上对基因的表达进行负调控,导致mRNA的降解或翻译抑制。到目前为止,已报道有几千种miRNA存在于动物、植物、真菌等多细胞真核生物中,进化上高度保守。在植物和动物中,miRNA虽然都是通过与其靶基因的相互作用来调节基因表达,进而调控生物体的生长发育,但miRNA执行这种调控作用的机理却不尽相同。同时miRNA在动植物体内的形成过程也存在很多的不同之处。本文综述了动植物miRNA的生物合成、作用机理、生物功能等方面的研究进展。     

果蝇MicroRNA研究进展

MicroRNA(miRNA)是一类大小约20~24个碱基的单链小分子非编码RNA,能够通过与靶mRNA特异性的碱基互补配对,引起靶mRNA的降解或者抑制其翻译,从而对基因进行转录后表达调控。miRNA广泛存在于动物、植物、细菌、病毒等多种生物物种中,并参与了发育调控、细胞凋亡、肿瘤发生、病原体感染等多种生物学进程。近年来对果蝇miRNA进行了鉴定与深入研究,miRNA几乎参与了果蝇生命过程中的所有重要环节,本文对果蝇miRNA的结构、作用机制及其生物学功能等研究进展进行了综述。     

miRNA 的生物合成过程

MicroRNA (miRNA) 是一类真核生物内源性的小分子单链 RNA ,通常为 18 ～ 25 nt 长,能够通过与靶 mRNA 特异性的碱基配对引起靶 mRNA 的降解或者抑制其翻译,从而对基因进行转录后的表达调控 . 近几年来,在动物细胞和植物组织中,上百种 miRNA 被陆续发现 . 这些小分子调控 RNA 是从 60 ～ 200 nt 的具有发夹状结构的前体中被切割出来而成熟的,在动物细胞中, miRNA 基因的转录初产物 (pri-miRMA) 很快被一种核糖核酸酶Ⅲ Drosha 加工成为 miRNA 前体 (pre-miRNA) ,然后由细胞核转运至细胞质中,经另一种核糖核酸酶Ⅲ Dicer 识别剪切为成熟 miRNA. 对这一过程进行了简要的综述,并且对植物 miRNA 的成熟过程也进行了探讨 . 对 miRNA 的生物合成过程的深入了解,将有助于研究这一类起重要调控作用的 RNA 是如何行使功能的,从而进一步研究其在生长发育及各种疾病中所起的重要作用 .     

MicroRNA-guided processing impairs Plum pox virus replication, but the virus readily evolves to escape this silencing mechanism

Since the discovery of microRNA (miRNA)-guided processing, a new type of RNA silencing, the possibility that such a mechanism could play a role in virus defense has been proposed. In this work, we have analyzed whether Plum pox virus (PPV) chimeras bearing miRNA target sequences (miR171, miR167, and miR159), which have been reported to be functional in Arabidopsis, were affected by miRNA function in three different host plants. Some of these PPV chimeras had clearly impaired infectivity compared with those carrying nonfunctional miRNA target sequences. The behaviors of PPV chimeras were similar but not identical in all the plants tested, and the deleterious effect on virus infectivity depended on the miRNA sequence cloned and on the site of insertion in the viral genome. The effect of the miRNA target sequence was drastically alleviated in transgenic plants expressing the silencing suppressor P1/HCPro. Furthermore, we show that virus chimeras readily escape RNA silencing interference through mutations within the miRNA target sequence, which mainly affected nucleotides matching the 5'-terminal region of the miRNA.     

miRNA介导植物-微生物互作中的调控作用及其研究进展北大核心CSCD

微生物与植物之间存在错综复杂的双向交流和串扰,植物与病原微生物互作直接影响寄主植物的生存状况,而植物和益生微生物互作则有利于宿主的生长和健康,共生微生物也会从中受益。不管是病原微生物还是有益微生物进入植物体内,植物miRNA都会迅速做出响应,同时微生物也可以产生miRNA样RNA(miRNA-likeRNA,milRNA)影响植物健康,可见miRNA(或milRNA)是植物与微生物互作过程中迅速响应的重要媒介分子,其内在机制研究近年来取得了许多进展。文中概述了植物-病原微生物、植物-益生微生物互作中miRNA的调控作用,重点阐述了植物miRNA在植物-病原微生物互作过程中对寄主植物抗病性的调控作用和植物-益生微生物互作过程中对宿主植物生长发育及代谢的调控,以及真菌milRNA对寄主植物的跨界调控作用。     

Aluminum triggers broad changes in microRNA expression in rice roots

MicroRNAs are small 21-nucleotide RNA molecules with regulatory roles in development and in response to stress. Expression of some plant miRNAs has been specifically associated with responses to abiotic stresses caused by cold, light, iron, and copper ions. In acid soils, aluminum solubility increases, thereby causing severe damage to plants. Although physiological aspects of aluminum toxicity in plants have been well characterized, the molecular mediators are not fully elucidated. There have been no reports about miRNA responses to aluminum stress. Modulation of miRNA expression may constitute a key element to explain the mechanisms implicated in aluminum toxicity and tolerance. We examined the expression of at least one miRNA member from each miRNA family in rice roots of Oryza sativa spp indica cv. Embrapa Taim and Oryza sativa spp japonica cv. Nipponbare under high concentrations of aluminum. Forty-six miRNA families were effectively detected by quantitative PCR. Among these, 13 were down-regulated and six were up-regulated in roots of the Nipponbare cultivar after 8 h of aluminum treatment. In roots of the Embrapa Taim cultivar, five miRNAs were down-regulated and three were up-regulated. Analyses of their putative targets suggest that these rice miRNAs are involved in the regulation of various metabolic pathways in response to high concentrations of aluminum.     

植物miRNA的进化

鉴于miRNA在植物基因表达调控中的重要作用, 人们已经开展对植物miRNA的预测、鉴定、功能和进化等方面的研究。随着许多模式植物基因组测序的完成, miRNA的基因组学和进化信息的整合为miRNA的起源和进化研究提供了越来越多的证据和假说, 然而尚未见关于植物miRNA进化方面的系统报道。文章从miRNA的起源以及相应的几种假说、miRNA的产生和消亡、miRNA的功能进化等几方面来分析和综述植物miRNA进化的研究进展。     

Computational identification of novel family members of microRNA genes in Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of endogenous small RNAs that play important regulatory roles in both animals and plants, miRNA genes have been intensively studied in animals, but not in plants. In this study, we adopted a homology search approach to identify homologs of previously validated plant miRNAs in Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa. We identified 20 potential miRNA genes in Arabidopsis and 40 in O. sativa, providing a relatively complete enumeration of family members for these miRNAs in plants. In addition, a greater number of Arabidopsis miRNAs (MIR168, MIR159 and MIR172) were found to be conserved in rice. With the novel homologs, most of the miRNAs have closely related fellow miRNAs and the number of paralogs varies in the different miRNA families. Moreover, a probable functional segment highly conserved on the elongated stem of pre-miRNA fold-backs of MIR319 and MIR159 family was identified. These results support a model of variegated miRNA regulation in plants, in which miRNAs with different functional elements on their pre-miRNA fold-backs can differ in their function or regulation, and closely related miRNAs can be diverse in their specificity or competence to downregulate target genes. It appears that the sophisticated regulation of miRNAs can achieve complex biological effects through qualitative and quantitative modulation of gene expression profiles in plants.     

果蝇微小RNA及其在衰老过程中的作用

微小RNA（microRNA, miRNA）是一类长度在22 nt左右的内源非编码小RNA,广泛存在于动物、植物、病毒等多种有机体中,是机体正常衰老与疾病的重要调控因子。本文对果蝇不同生长时期miRNA的表达模式、主要衰老相关信号通路以及与衰老相关的miRNA进行了综述。在果蝇的不同发育时期均有特定的miRNA发挥重要作用,其表达模式与功能相关;miRNA参与了主要衰老分子信号通路的调控,如胰岛素/胰岛素样生长因子（IIS）通路和雷帕霉素靶蛋白（TOR）通路。研究表明,miRNA通过调控衰老相关信号通路中的靶基因,进而促进或延缓果蝇衰老,如miR-34, miR-8, miR-14, miR let7和miR-277等。因此,研究参与衰老调控的miRNA,为阐明衰老机制及抗衰老药物的设计奠定了基础。     

Evolution of microRNA genes in Oryza sativa and Arabidopsis thaliana: an update of the inverted duplication model

The origin and evolution of microRNA (miRNA) genes, which are of significance in tuning and buffering gene expressions in a number of critical cellular processes, have long attracted evolutionary biologists. However, genome-wide perspectives on their origins, potential mechanisms of their de novo generation and subsequent evolution remain largely unsolved in flowering plants. Here, genome-wide analyses of Oryza sativa and Arabidopsis thaliana revealed apparently divergent patterns of miRNA gene origins. A large proportion of miRNA genes in O. sativa were TE-related and MITE-related miRNAs in particular, whereas the fraction of these miRNA genes much decreased in A. thaliana. Our results show that the majority of TE-related and pseudogene-related miRNA genes have originated through inverted duplication instead of segmental or tandem duplication events. Based on the presented findings, we hypothesize and illustrate the four likely molecular mechanisms to de novo generate novel miRNA genes from TEs and pseudogenes. Our rice genome analysis demonstrates that non-MITEs and MITEs mediated inverted duplications have played different roles in de novo generating miRNA genes. It is confirmed that the previously proposed inverted duplication model may give explanations for non-MITEs mediated duplication events. However, many other miRNA genes, known from the earlier proposed model, were rather arisen from MITE transpositions into target genes to yield binding sites. We further investigated evolutionary processes spawned from de novo generated to maturely-formed miRNA genes and their regulatory systems. We found that miRNAs increase the tunability of some gene regulatory systems with low gene copy numbers. The results also suggest that gene balance effects may have largely contributed to the evolution of miRNA regulatory systems.     

Genome-Wide Identification of Reverse Complementary microRNA Genes in Plants

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are ∼21-nucleotide small RNAs (sRNAs) with essential regulatory roles in plants. They are generated from stem-loop-structured precursors through two sequential Dicer-like 1 (DCL1)-mediated cleavages. To date, hundreds of plant miRNAs have been uncovered. However, the question, whether the sequences reverse complementary (RC) to the miRNA precursors could form hairpin-like structures and produce sRNA duplexes similar to the miRNA/miRNA* pairs has not been solved yet. Here, we interrogated this possibility in 16 plant species based on sRNA high-throughput sequencing data and secondary structure prediction. A total of 59 RC sequences with great potential to form stem-loop structures and generate miRNA/miRNA*-like duplexes were identified in ten plants, which were named as RC-miRNA precursors. Unlike the canonical miRNAs, only a few cleavage targets of the RC-miRNAs were identified in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and rice (Oryza sativa), and none in Soybean (Glycine max) based on degradome data. Surprisingly, the genomic regions surrounding some of the RC-miRNA target recognition sites were observed to be specifically methylated in both Arabidopsis and rice. Taken together, we reported a new class of miRNAs, called RC-miRNAs, which were generated from the antisense strands of the miRNA precursors. Based on the results, we speculated that the mature RC-miRNAs might have subtle regulatory activity through target cleavages, but might possess short interfering RNA-like activity by guiding sequence-specific DNA methylation.