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PMID: 19379693 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

A microRNA imparts robustness against environmental fluctuation during development.

Cell ·Vol. 137 ·No. 2 ·2009-04-17 ·Pages 273-82

Li X, Cassidy JJ, Reinke CA, Fischboeck S, Carthew RW

Abstract

The microRNA miR-7 is perfectly conserved from annelids to humans, and yet some of the genes that it regulates in Drosophila are not regulated in mammals. We have explored the role of lineage restricted targets, using Drosophila, in order to better understand the evolutionary significance of microRNA-target relationships. From studies of two well characterized developmental regulatory networks, we find that miR-7 functions in several interlocking feedback and feedforward loops, and propose that its role in these networks is to buffer them against perturbation. To directly demonstrate this function for miR-7, we subjected the networks to temperature fluctuation and found that miR-7 is essential for the maintenance of regulatory stability under conditions of environmental flux. We suggest that some conserved microRNAs like miR-7 may enter into novel genetic relationships to buffer developmental programs against variation and impart robustness to diverse regulatory networks.

MeSH Terms
Animals Drosophila melanogaster/embryology,genetics,metabolism Gene Regulatory Networks MicroRNAs/genetics,metabolism Photoreceptor Cells, Invertebrate/metabolism Proprioception Temperature
Chemicals
MicroRNAs Mir7 microRNA, Drosophila
Authors & Affiliations
5 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Li Xin
Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology, 2205 Tech Drive, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
Cassidy Justin J
Reinke Catherine A
Fischboeck Stephen
Carthew Richard W
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Article Info
Journal
Cell
Abbr.
Cell
ISSN
1097-4172
DOI
10.1016/j.cell.2009.01.058
Published
2009-04-17
Pages
273-82
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
0413066
PMCID
PMC2674871
Subset
IM
Grants
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM077581-02 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM077581-03 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM077581 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM077581-01 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · GM077581 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2009.01.058 PMC Full Text View journal details
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