MiR-206在骨骼肌发育中的功能

Roles of miR-206 in skeletal muscle development

微RNA(microRNA,miRNA)是一类在分子进化中十分保守的非编码RNA,长度约22个核苷酸,一般情况下它在转录后水平抑制基因表达。miRNA在细胞增殖、分化、凋亡等诸多生理过程中发挥着重要作用。有些miRNA具有组织特异性表达,其中miR-206是目前发现的唯一在骨骼肌中特异表达的miRNA,它在调节骨骼肌发生过程中扮演重要角色。miR-206表达异常与一些肌肉相关疾病如肌肉营养不良、肌萎缩性侧索硬化症等有关。此外,在Texel羊中,myostatin基因的一个点突变就产生了一个miR-206和miR-1的靶点,抑制了myostain基因的表达,从而产生了双肌表型。因此,miR-206有可能成为治疗肌肉相关疾病和畜禽改良育种的重要候选分子。

MicroRNAs （miRNAs） are a class of highly conserved small non-coding RNAs of -22-nucleotides involved in post- transcriptional gene silencing. The emerging field of miRNA biology has unraveled roles for these regulatory molecules in a range of biological functions, including cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. Interestingly, many miRNAs are specifically expressed in muscles. In this review, we focus on miR-206 which is unique in that it is only expressed in skeletal muscle and has been shown to play an important role in myogenesis. Importantly, dysregulation of miR-206 has been linked to muscle-related diseases, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In addition, a mutation in the 3＇-UTR of the myostatin gene in the Texel sheep creating target sites for the microRNAs miR-206 and miR-1 leads to down regulation of myostatin expression, which is likely to cause the muscular phenotype of this breed of sheep. Therefore, miR-206 may become a novel target in optimization of muscle quantity of domestic animals and therapy of muscle-related diseases.