Han Jinju, Gage Fred H
The Salk Institute for Biological Sciences , La Jolla, CA, USA.
Neurogenesis (Austin). 2016 Dec 5;3(1):e1251873. doi: 10.1080/23262133.2016.1251873. eCollection 2016.
The latest miRNA database (Release 21) annotated 2588 and 1915 miRNAs in the human and mouse genomes, respectively. However, the biological roles of miRNAs remain largely unknown. In particular, the physiological and pathological roles of individual microRNAs in the brain have not been investigated extensively although expression profiles of microRNAs have been reported in many given conditions. In a recent study, we identified miR-19, which is enriched in adult hippocampal neural progenitor cells (NPCs), as a key regulator for adult hippocampal neurogenesis. miR-19 is an intrinsic factor regulating the migration of newborn neurons by modulating expression level of RAPGEF2. After observing the abnormal expression patterns of miR-19 and RAPGEF2 in NPCs derived from induced pluripotent stem cells of schizophrenic patients, which display aberrant cell migration, we proposed miR-19 as a molecule associated with schizophrenia. The results illustrate that a single microRNA has the potential to impact the functions of the brain. Identifying miRNA-mediated posttranscriptional gene regulation in the brain will expand our understanding of brain development and functions and the etiologies of several brain disorders.
最新的miRNA数据库（第21版）分别注释了人类和小鼠基因组中的2588个和1915个miRNA。然而，miRNA的生物学作用在很大程度上仍不清楚。特别是，尽管在许多特定条件下已报道了miRNA的表达谱，但单个微小RNA在大脑中的生理和病理作用尚未得到广泛研究。在最近的一项研究中，我们鉴定出在成年海马神经祖细胞（NPC）中富集的miR-19是成年海马神经发生的关键调节因子。miR-19是一种内在因子，通过调节RAPGEF2的表达水平来调节新生神经元的迁移。在观察到来自精神分裂症患者诱导多能干细胞的NPC中miR-19和RAPGEF2的异常表达模式（这些NPC表现出异常的细胞迁移）后，我们提出miR-19是与精神分裂症相关的分子。结果表明，单个微小RNA有可能影响大脑的功能。确定大脑中miRNA介导的转录后基因调控将扩展我们对大脑发育和功能以及几种脑部疾病病因的理解。
