A MicroRNA Imparts Robustness against Environmental Fluctuation during Development

Xin Li, Justin J. Cassidy, Catherine A. Reinke, Stephen Fischboeck, Richard W. Carthew*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

387 Scopus citations

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.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)273-282
Number of pages10
JournalCell
Volume137
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 17 2009

Keywords

  • DEVBIO
  • RNA

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

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