Eulalio Ana, Rehwinkel Jan, Stricker Mona, Huntzinger Eric, Yang Schu-Fee, Doerks Tobias, Dorner Silke, Bork Peer, Boutros Michael, Izaurralde Elisa
Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany.
Genes Dev. 2007 Oct 15;21(20):2558-70. doi: 10.1101/gad.443107. Epub 2007 Sep 27.
microRNAs (miRNAs) silence gene expression by suppressing protein production and/or by promoting mRNA decay. To elucidate how silencing is accomplished, we screened an RNA interference library for suppressors of miRNA-mediated regulation in Drosophila melanogaster cells. In addition to proteins known to be required for miRNA biogenesis and function (i.e., Drosha, Pasha, Dicer-1, AGO1, and GW182), the screen identified the decapping activator Ge-1 as being required for silencing by miRNAs. Depleting Ge-1 alone and/or in combination with other decapping activators (e.g., DCP1, EDC3, HPat, or Me31B) suppresses silencing of several miRNA targets, indicating that miRNAs elicit mRNA decapping. A comparison of gene expression profiles in cells depleted of AGO1 or of individual decapping activators shows that approximately 15% of AGO1-targets are also regulated by Ge-1, DCP1, and HPat, whereas 5% are dependent on EDC3 and LSm1-7. These percentages are underestimated because decapping activators are partially redundant. Furthermore, in the absence of active translation, some miRNA targets are stabilized, whereas others continue to be degraded in a miRNA-dependent manner. These findings suggest that miRNAs mediate post-transcriptional gene silencing by more than one mechanism.
微小RNA(miRNA)通过抑制蛋白质产生和/或促进信使核糖核酸(mRNA)降解来使基因表达沉默。为了阐明沉默是如何实现的,我们在果蝇细胞中筛选了一个RNA干扰文库,以寻找miRNA介导调控的抑制因子。除了已知的miRNA生物合成和功能所需的蛋白质(即Drosha、Pasha、Dicer-1、AGO1和GW182)外,该筛选还确定了去帽激活因子Ge-1是miRNA沉默所必需的。单独耗尽Ge-1以及和其他去帽激活因子(如DCP1、EDC3、HPat或Me31B)联合耗尽,均会抑制几个miRNA靶标的沉默,这表明miRNA会引发mRNA去帽。对耗尽AGO1或单个去帽激活因子的细胞中的基因表达谱进行比较,结果显示,大约15%的AGO1靶标也受Ge-1、DCP1和HPat调控,而5%的AGO1靶标依赖于EDC3和LSm1-7。这些百分比被低估了,因为去帽激活因子存在部分冗余。此外,在没有活跃翻译的情况下,一些miRNA靶标会被稳定下来,而另一些则会继续以miRNA依赖的方式被降解。这些发现表明,miRNA通过不止一种机制介导转录后基因沉默。