Gao Fen-Biao
Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease, Department of Neurology, Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California, 1650 Owens Street, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.
Trends Neurosci. 2008 Jan;31(1):20-6. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2007.10.004. Epub 2007 Dec 3.
The proper development of the nervous system requires precise spatial and temporal control of gene expression at both the transcriptional and translational levels. In different experimental model systems, microRNAs (miRNAs) - a class of small, endogenous, noncoding RNAs that control the translation and stability of many mRNAs - are emerging as important regulators of various aspects of neuronal development. Further dissection of the in vivo physiological functions of individual miRNAs promises to offer novel mechanistic insights into the gene regulatory networks that ensure the precise assembly of a functional nervous system.
神经系统的正常发育需要在转录和翻译水平上对基因表达进行精确的空间和时间控制。在不同的实验模型系统中,微小RNA(miRNA)——一类控制许多mRNA翻译和稳定性的小型内源性非编码RNA——正成为神经元发育各个方面的重要调节因子。对单个miRNA体内生理功能的进一步剖析有望为确保功能性神经系统精确组装的基因调控网络提供新的机制性见解。