Characterizing miRNA-regulatory networks

Characterizing miRNA-regulatory networks

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate diverse biological processes by repressing mRNAs, but their modest effects on direct targets, together with their participation in larger regulatory networks, make it challenging to delineate miRNA-mediated effects.

Researchers describe an approach to characterizing miRNA-regulatory networks by systematically profiling transcriptional, post-transcriptional and epigenetic activity in a pair of isogenic murine fibroblast cell lines with and without Dicer expression.

By RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and CLIP (crosslinking followed by immunoprecipitation) sequencing (CLIP-seq), they found that most of the changes induced by global miRNA loss occur at the level of transcription.

Authors then introduced a network modeling approach that integrated these data with epigenetic data to identify specific miRNA-regulated transcription factors that explain the impact of miRNA perturbation on gene expression.

In total, authors demonstrate that combining multiple genome-wide datasets spanning diverse regulatory modes enables accurate delineation of the downstream miRNA-regulated transcriptional network and establishes a model for studying similar networks in other systems.

http://www.cell.com/cell-reports/abstract/S2211-1247(15)01455-2
Edited

Rating

Unrated