Behura Susanta K
Department of Biochemistry, Purdue University, 175 S. University Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2063, USA.
Insect Biochem Mol Biol. 2007 Jan;37(1):3-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2006.10.006. Epub 2006 Nov 7.
The small regulatory non-coding RNA molecules, known as microRNAs, have been recognized as potential regulator(s) of gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. In Drosophila melanogaster, microRNAs have been identified that control important developmental processes such as apoptosis, cell division, Notch signaling, neural development and oogenesis, among others. Once activated through a step-wise maturation process, a microRNA can potentially regulate more than 50 target genes temporally and spatially in Drosophila. Thus, it is of tremendous importance to understand how these small RNA molecules have evolved and how they are expressed and regulated to impact cellular function and the associated evolutionary fitness. Studies of microRNAs in diverse insect species using the genome sequences (at least 49 insect genome sequences are in progress) may provide important clues to better understand the natural selection of microRNA genes in particular and their impact on biological functions in insects in general.
被称为微小RNA的小型调控非编码RNA分子，已被公认为转录后水平上基因表达的潜在调节因子。在黑腹果蝇中，已鉴定出控制重要发育过程的微小RNA，如细胞凋亡、细胞分裂、Notch信号传导、神经发育和卵子发生等。一旦通过逐步成熟过程被激活，一个微小RNA可能在果蝇中在时间和空间上潜在地调节50多个靶基因。因此，了解这些小RNA分子是如何进化的，以及它们如何表达和调控以影响细胞功能和相关的进化适应性，具有极其重要的意义。利用基因组序列（至少49种昆虫基因组序列正在进行中）对不同昆虫物种中的微小RNA进行研究，可能为更好地理解微小RNA基因的自然选择及其对昆虫生物学功能的总体影响提供重要线索。
