The role that RNA molecules play during eukaryotic gene expression has moved to center stage. Land plants, mammals, and other bilateral animals each have from ~100 to >400 genes that produce ~22-nt noncoding RNAs, called microRNAs (miRNAs). MicroRNAs pair to the mRNAs of protein-coding genes to direct the posttranscriptional repression of these messages. Because a single mammalian miRNA can target hundreds of messages, miRNAs have a widespread impact on mRNA repression and evolution. This proposal focuses on the genomics and functional genomics of this newly identified class of genes, with the broad, long-term objective of understanding the roles of RNA in regulating gene expression.
The specific aims are: 1) to identify additional miRNA genes, 2) to improve and expand miRNA target identification, and 3) to determine the molecular consequences of miRNA-mediated repression. Experiments of Aim #1 will use high-throughput sequencing to identify many miRNA genes, including previously unrecognized human genes, substantially increasing (and correcting) annotations of this gene class. Gene discovery will also be extended to basal animals, including sponge and cnideria, to shed light on the evolutionary origins of this mode of gene regulation. Experiments of Aim #2 will use molecular and comparative genomic approaches to provide a more precise and comprehensive list of predicted targets a resource for all biologists, and of particular value for those concerned with eukaryotic gene regulation, development, and disease. Experiments of Aim #3 will determine the extent to which miRNA-mediated repression can be discerned from reduced transcript accumulation. They also will likely identify many new targets beyond those currently detected on mRNA expression arrays and thereby provide large, quantitative datasets needed for improving and expanding target predictions. Because more than a third of the human genes have been under selective pressure to maintain their pairing to a set of broadly conserved miRNAs, it is no surprise that miRNAs have already been shown to play important roles in mammalian development, viral infection, and cancer. Knowing the miRNA genes, their likely targets, and the molecular consequences of their action will be useful for determining additional functions of miRNAs and learning how their dysfunction can contribute to human disease. Public Health Relevance: The experiments of this proposal focus on short snippets of RNA called microRNAs, which can collaborate with the proteins of the cell to determine how much protein is produced from individual genes, including many genes implicated in cancer and other diseases. The goals are to find microRNAs that had gone unrecognized, to learn how best to predict which genes the microRNAs regulate, and to determine the magnitude of their effects on protein output. Achieving these goals will shed light on why microRNAs are needed for normal growth and development, and how their dysfunction can contribute to human diseases.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01GM067031-08
Application #
8053735
Study Section
Genomics, Computational Biology and Technology Study Section (GCAT)
Program Officer
Bender, Michael T
Project Start
2002-09-03
Project End
2012-03-31
Budget Start
2011-04-01
Budget End
2012-03-31
Support Year
8
Fiscal Year
2011
Total Cost
$699,034
Indirect Cost
Name
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research
Department
Type
DUNS #
120989983
City
Cambridge
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02142
Agarwal, Vikram; Subtelny, Alexander O; Thiru, Prathapan et al. (2018) Predicting microRNA targeting efficacy in Drosophila. Genome Biol 19:152
Denzler, Rémy; McGeary, Sean E; Title, Alexandra C et al. (2016) Impact of MicroRNA Levels, Target-Site Complementarity, and Cooperativity on Competing Endogenous RNA-Regulated Gene Expression. Mol Cell 64:565-579
Eichhorn, Stephen W; Subtelny, Alexander O; Kronja, Iva et al. (2016) mRNA poly(A)-tail changes specified by deadenylation broadly reshape translation in Drosophila oocytes and early embryos. Elife 5:
Wong, Siew Fen Lisa; Agarwal, Vikram; Mansfield, Jennifer H et al. (2015) Independent regulation of vertebral number and vertebral identity by microRNA-196 paralogs. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 112:E4884-93
Fang, Wenwen; Bartel, David P (2015) The Menu of Features that Define Primary MicroRNAs and Enable De Novo Design of MicroRNA Genes. Mol Cell 60:131-45
Agarwal, Vikram; Bell, George W; Nam, Jin-Wu et al. (2015) Predicting effective microRNA target sites in mammalian mRNAs. Elife 4:
Hezroni, Hadas; Koppstein, David; Schwartz, Matthew G et al. (2015) Principles of long noncoding RNA evolution derived from direct comparison of transcriptomes in 17 species. Cell Rep 11:1110-22
Kronja, Iva; Yuan, Bingbing; Eichhorn, Stephen W et al. (2014) Widespread changes in the posttranscriptional landscape at the Drosophila oocyte-to-embryo transition. Cell Rep 7:1495-1508
Subtelny, Alexander O; Eichhorn, Stephen W; Chen, Grace R et al. (2014) Poly(A)-tail profiling reveals an embryonic switch in translational control. Nature 508:66-71
Guo, Junjie U; Agarwal, Vikram; Guo, Huili et al. (2014) Expanded identification and characterization of mammalian circular RNAs. Genome Biol 15:409

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