Lab of Molecular Neurogenetics, Department of Experimental Medical Science, Wallenberg Neuroscience Center and Lund Stem Cell Center, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Lab of Molecular Neurogenetics, Department of Experimental Medical Science, Wallenberg Neuroscience Center and Lund Stem Cell Center, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Exp Cell Res. 2014 Feb 1;321(1):84-9. doi: 10.1016/j.yexcr.2013.09.022. Epub 2013 Oct 4.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs that negatively regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. In the brain, a large number of miRNAs are expressed and there is a growing body of evidence demonstrating that miRNAs are essential for brain development and neuronal function. Conditional knockout studies of the core components in the miRNA biogenesis pathway, such as Dicer and DGCR8, have demonstrated a crucial role for miRNAs during the development of the central nervous system. Furthermore, mice deleted for specific miRNAs and miRNA-clusters demonstrate diverse functional roles for different miRNAs during the development of different brain structures. miRNAs have been proposed to regulate cellular functions such as differentiation, proliferation and fate-determination of neural progenitors. In this review we summarise the findings from recent studies that highlight the importance of miRNAs in brain development with a focus on the mouse model. We also discuss the technical limitations of current miRNA studies that still limit our understanding of this family of non-coding RNAs and propose the use of novel and refined technologies that are needed in order to fully determine the impact of specific miRNAs in brain development.
微小 RNA（miRNAs）是一种小型非编码 RNA，可在转录后水平负调控基因表达。在大脑中，大量的 miRNAs 被表达，越来越多的证据表明 miRNAs 对大脑发育和神经元功能至关重要。miRNA 生物发生途径核心成分（如 Dicer 和 DGCR8）的条件性敲除研究表明，miRNAs 在中枢神经系统发育过程中起着至关重要的作用。此外，针对特定 miRNAs 和 miRNA 簇的小鼠缺失表明，不同 miRNAs 在不同脑结构的发育过程中具有不同的功能作用。miRNAs 被提出可以调节细胞功能，如神经祖细胞的分化、增殖和命运决定。在这篇综述中，我们总结了最近的研究结果，强调了 miRNAs 在大脑发育中的重要性，重点介绍了小鼠模型。我们还讨论了当前 miRNA 研究的技术限制，这些限制仍然限制了我们对这一非编码 RNA 家族的理解，并提出了使用新型和改进的技术的必要性，以便充分确定特定 miRNAs 在大脑发育中的影响。
