微小RNA起源及功能和动植物基因寻找计算方法

微小RNAs（microRNAs,miRNAs）是长度约为22个核苷酸（nt）的内源性非编码小分子RNA。miRNA作为重要的基因调节因子,通过多种机制抑制其靶mRNA的表达。miRNA的表达和／或功能异常与人类多种疾病密切相关。因此,近年miR—NA与人类疾病的相关研究备受关注,寻找miRNA基因显得尤为重要。过去对miRNA基因进行研究的范围较为局限,获得的新miRNA基因很少。目前,对miRNA基因目录的补充主要依赖于复杂计算工具的发展,随着计算工具的发展获得多种简易的寻找miRNA基因的方法,但对miRNA基因目录的补充仍未能起有效作用。本文在简单介绍动植物miRNA生物起源和功能及作用机制的基础上,主要关注动植物miRNA基因寻找的计算方法,可望为探索动植物miRNAs基因寻找的新的计算方法提供有价值的参考。     

哺乳动物早期发育相关microRNAs的研究进展

本文简要总结了近年来哺乳动物早期发育相关microRNA(miRNA)的研究进展。miRNA是真核生物中一类长度约为18～25 nt的内源性非编码单链小RNA分子,其调控基因表达是近年来在动植物体内发现的一种新的生物学调节机制。通过荧光定量PCR检测、miRNA的过表达、抑制或基因敲除实验以及生物信息学分析等发现,miRNA在哺乳动物植入前胚胎前的发育过程中有重要作用,参与胚胎细胞的增殖、分化、基因印记以及重编程甲基化等,与动物生殖或发育异常相关,是表观遗传学的研究热点之一。     

昆虫microRNA的研究进展

MicroRNA (miRNA)是20世纪90年代发现的一类由内源基因编码的长度约21~24 nt的非编码单链RNA分子, 广泛存在于真核生物中, 对基因的转录后调控起着非常重要的作用。本文简要介绍了miRNA的产生与调控机制, 同时从昆虫miRNA的发现鉴定、 靶基因预测与功能验证, 昆虫miRNA的序列特征与进化, 果蝇和非果蝇类昆虫miRNA生物学功能以及供昆虫miRNA研究的网络平台等方面对昆虫miRNA的最新进展进行了综述, 旨在为进一步研究昆虫miRNA提供借鉴和参考。对昆虫miRNA的研究表明其参与调控细胞分化、 增殖及凋亡、 胚胎发育、 器官发生、 形态构建、 生理代谢、 环境协调、 行为认知、 免疫防御等几乎所有的生物过程。因此, 深入研究其生物功能、 调控网络和开发应用等可能成为今后一段时间昆虫miRNA研究的重要内容。     

植物microRNA功能及其在逆境条件下的研究进展

microRNA(miRNA)是一种内源性的小分子RNA,长度约为21到25个核苷酸大小,在动植物生长发育的各个过程中起重要的调控作用。近几年随着高通量测序技术的飞速发展,研究人员在许多物种中鉴定了大量的miRNA,未来miRNA的研究主要集中在功能研究方面,尤其是植物miRNA在逆境条件下的功能方面。就目前miRNA功能的主要研究方法,以及逆境条件下植物miRNA的研究进行了综合阐述。     

MicroRNA基因簇的多样性与进化

microRNA（miRNA）基因簇是一类miRNA基因在染色体上成簇排列形成的基因群.在动植物基因组中,已发现存在大量簇生排列的miRNA基因.然而这种簇生排列方式所具有的功能意义尚不完全清楚.miRNA基因簇常位于一个多顺反子内,通过共表达在胚胎发育、细胞周期和细胞分化等诸多方面发挥协同调控的功能.基于近些年来的研究进展,本文综述了miRNA基因簇在动物染色体上分布的多样性,表达与功能的协同性,以及重复和转座介导下miRNA基因簇产生与消亡的适应性进化过程.     

胃癌相关miRNA表达的表观遗传学调控机制

胃癌是人类最常见的肿瘤之一,其发病机制尚不完全清楚.微小RNA(microRNA,miRNA)是一组最近发现的长度为22个核苷酸左右的非编码RNA,具有负性调控基因表达的功能.本文对miRNA在胃癌发生中的作用及其表达调控机制进行综述.不断有文献显示,miRNA在多种肿瘤(包括胃癌)的发生过程中发挥着重要作用.作者和其他研究人员发现,miRNA的表达异常(如:miR-421和miR-21的上调或/和miR-31和miR-218的下调等)与胃癌的发生相关,提示miRNA是胃癌发生的重要因素.目前,miRNA表达的分子机制尚未完全明了.最近研究较清楚地显示,miRNA的表达受到DNA甲基化和组蛋白修饰等机制的调控.这说明,胃癌相关miRNA的表达水平受到表观遗传机制的调控。     

哺乳动物的miRNA研究

微小RNA(microRNA,miRNA)是新近发现的一类重要非编码调控RNA,以转录或转录后水平调节方式参与哺乳动物发育(细胞生长、分化、凋亡)、免疫调节及疾病发生等过程。就miRNA的形成及作用机制,哺乳动物中miRNA发现策略、靶位点的识别,miRNA功能研究进行综述,为类似研究提供参考。     

EB病毒编码microRNA的靶基因研究进展

EB病毒(EBV)是一种疱疹病毒,与多种肿瘤的发生密切相关。EBV可表达多种病毒microRNA(miRNA),并作用于细胞和病毒基因,参与信号转导、细胞增殖、分化等多种功能,这与EBV的致病机制密切相关。探索EBV编码miRNA相关靶基因及功能有助于进一步了解EBV的致病机制,也将为临床治疗提供新的启示。自EBV编码miRNA被发现以来,一些靶基因已经逐渐被验证。本文将对目前已验证的EBV编码miRNA的靶基因及功能进行综述。     

microRNA在胰腺癌中的研究进展

胰腺癌是预后很差的恶性肿瘤,其分子机制的研究是治愈胰腺癌的希望.microRNA(miRNA)是一类小分子非编码RNA,通过降解或抑制靶基因mRNA的翻译调节靶基因的功能.近年来,研究发现miRNA在胰腺癌中异常表达,有上调,也有下调.虽然很多miRNA异常表达的机制尚不清楚,但启动子CpG甲基化与在胰腺癌中某些miRNA的下调有关.研究发现miRNA表达谱可用于胰腺癌和单个miRNA表达如miR-21、miR-34、miR-10a、miR-155、miR-196a及miR-200和let-7家族成员等可作为肿瘤标志物用于胰腺癌与正常胰腺、慢性胰腺炎、胰腺内分泌肿瘤等的诊断和鉴别诊断,预测胰腺癌的预后等.研究发现miRNA在胰腺癌中上调或下调参与胰腺癌的增殖、凋亡、侵袭、转移以及对化疗药物的耐药.研究发现miR-34、miR-200c等与胰腺癌干细胞的自我更新有关.这些miRNA研究将为胰腺癌的早期诊断、分子靶向治疗打下坚实的基础.     

果蝇miRNA的结构与功能及研究策略

miRNA是一类在动植物基因组中广泛存在的小分子非编码RNA, 作为真核细胞转录后水平上基因表达的关键调控者, 它通过与靶基因mRNA的特定位点结合, 抑制mRNA的翻译或诱导mRNA的降解, 从而介导生物体的许多重要生理活动。本文简要总结了模式昆虫黑腹果蝇Drosophila melanogaster miRNA的鉴定情况, 综述了miRNA的结构特征、生物合成途径和作用机制。miRNA可能同时调节成百上千个靶标, 其生物功能主要体现为: 调节细胞分化与凋亡, 调节器官和神经系统的发育, 控制肌肉分化, 保持能量动态平衡, 调节昆虫变态或综合调节作用。miRNA具有“低丰度、短序列、难富集”的特点, miRNA基因的获得和功能鉴定研究的基本策略是实验生物学和生物信息学方法的有机结合。鉴定新miRNA及其靶标, 深入研究其生物功能和基因进化等可能成为今后一段时间昆虫miRNA研究的重要内容。     

Computational approaches for microRNA studies: a review

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are one class of tiny, endogenous RNAs that can regulate messenger RNA (mRNA) expression by targeting homologous sequences in mRNAs. Their aberrant expressions have been observed in many cancers and several miRNAs have been convincingly shown to play important roles in carcinogenesis. Since the discovery of this small regulator, computational methods have been indispensable tools in miRNA gene finding and functional studies. In this review we first briefly outline the biological findings of miRNA genes, such as genomic feature, biogenesis, gene structure, and functional mechanism. We then discuss in detail the three main aspects of miRNA computational studies: miRNA gene finding, miRNA target prediction, and regulation of miRNA genes. Finally, we provide perspectives on some emerging issues, including combinatorial regulation by miRNAs and functional binding sites beyond the 3′-untranslated region (3′UTR) of target mRNAs. Available online resources for miRNA computational studies are also provided.     

降解组测序技术在植物miRNA研究中的应用

目前, 利用芯片技术和miRNA测序可快速、准确地检测到物种中所含有的miRNA。随着越来越多的miRNA被发现, miRNA靶基因的确定已成为研究miRNA生物学功能的关键。传统的miRNA靶基因的寻找主要依赖生物信息学预测、AGO蛋白免疫共沉淀和荧光素酶法等。随着高通量测序技术的持续革新, 出现了一种新的miRNA靶基因的检测方法, 即降解组测序(degradome sequencing)法, 该方法拥有高通量测序技术、生物信息学分析和RACE验证三者的优势, 并已成功应用于拟南芥(Arabidopsis thaliana)、水稻(Oryza sativa)和小立碗藓(Physcomitrella patens)等模式植物miRNA靶基因的检测。基于已发表的相关文献和联川生物降解组测序平台, 该文对降解组测序技术应用于植物miRNA靶基因的研究进展及其实验原理进行了综述, 同时对运用该技术可进行的更深入研究进行了讨论。     

Human microRNA target identification by RRSM

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small endogenously expressed non-coding RNAs that regulate target messenger RNAs in various biological processes. In recent years, there have been many studies concentrated on the discovery of new miRNAs and identification of their mRNA targets. Although researchers have identified many miRNAs, few miRNA targets have been identified by actual experimental methods. To expedite the identification of miRNA targets for experimental verification, in the literature approaches based on the sequence or microarray expression analysis have been established to discover the potential miRNA targets. In this study, we focus on the human miRNA target prediction and propose a generalized relative R2 method (RRSM) to find many high-confidence targets. Many targets have been confirmed from previous studies. The targets for several miRNAs discovered by the HITS-CLIP method in a recent study have also been selected by our study.     

Genome-wide identification and characterization of novel microRNAs in seed development of soybean

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important and ubiquitous regulators of gene expression in eukaryotes. However, the information about miRNAs population and their regulatory functions involving in soybean seed development remains incomplete. Base on the Dicer-like1-mediated cleavage signals during miRNA processing could be employed for novel miRNA discovery, a genome-wide search for miRNA candidates involved in seed development was carried out. As a result, 17 novel miRNAs, 14 isoforms of miRNA (isomiRs) and 31 previously validated miRNAs were discovered. These novel miRNAs and isomiRs represented tissue-specific expression and the isomiRs showed significantly higher abundance than that of their miRNA counterparts in different tissues. After target prediction and degradome sequencing data-based validation, 13 novel miRNA–target pairs were further identified. Besides, five targets of 22-nt iso-gma-miR393h were found to be triggered to produce secondary trans-acting siRNA (ta-siRNAs). Summarily, our results could expand the repertoire of miRNAs with potentially important functions in soybean.     

Origin and evolution of human microRNAs from transposable elements

We sought to evaluate the extent of the contribution of transposable elements (TEs) to human microRNA (miRNA) genes along with the evolutionary dynamics of TE-derived human miRNAs. We found 55 experimentally characterized human miRNA genes that are derived from TEs, and these TE-derived miRNAs have the potential to regulate thousands of human genes. Sequence comparisons revealed that TE-derived human miRNAs are less conserved, on average, than non-TE-derived miRNAs. However, there are 18 TE-derived miRNAs that are relatively conserved, and 14 of these are related to the ancient L2 and MIR families. Comparison of miRNA vs. mRNA expression patterns for TE-derived miRNAs and their putative target genes showed numerous cases of anti-correlated expression that are consistent with regulation via mRNA degradation. In addition to the known human miRNAs that we show to be derived from TE sequences, we predict an additional 85 novel TE-derived miRNA genes. TE sequences are typically disregarded in genomic surveys for miRNA genes and target sites; this is a mistake. Our results indicate that TEs provide a natural mechanism for the origination miRNAs that can contribute to regulatory divergence between species as well as a rich source for the discovery of as yet unknown miRNA genes.     

Plant microRNAs in molecular breeding

MicroRNAs are small, endogenous, non-coding RNAs found in plants, animals, and in some viruses, which negatively regulate the expression of genes by promoting the degradation of target mRNAs or by translation inhibition. Ever since the discovery of miRNAs, its biology, mechanisms, and functions were extensively studied in the past two decades. Plant and animal miRNAs both regulate target mRNAs, but they differ in scope of complementarity to their target mRNA. Plant microRNAs are known to play essential roles in a wide array of plant development. To date, there are many studies giving evidence that the regulation of miRNA levels can reprogram plant responses to abiotic (physical environment) and biotic stresses (pathogen and herbivore). Most of these studies were first carried out in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Recently, the trend of miRNA research is furthering its role in crop breeding and its evolutionary origin. In this review, we presented the dynamic biogenesis of microRNAs, the diverse functions of miRNAs in plants, and experimental designs used in studying microRNAs in plants, and most importantly, we presented the applications of microRNA-based technology to improve the resistance of crops in abiotic and biotic stresses.