Institute of Biochemistry and Department of Biology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6, Canada.
Institute of Biochemistry and Department of Biology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6, Canada.
Gene. 2022 Apr 20;819:146236. doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2022.146236. Epub 2022 Jan 31.
Xenopus laevis, the African clawed frog, undergoes seasonal estivation to survive periods of drought when its lake-bed habitats dry up. The frog can lose ∼30% of its total body water, leading to conditions of impaired blood flow and ischemia which risk cellular survival under these harsh conditions. MicroRNAs are short, noncoding, single-stranded RNAs 21-24 nt long that have been widely implicated in hypometabolic responses, and serve functions including apoptosis survival. The levels of three pro-apoptotic and four anti-apoptotic miRNAs were measured in liver and skeletal muscle of estivating X. laevis, and bioinformatic analysis was performed to verify potential mRNA targets of these miRNAs. Members of pro-apoptotic miRNAs miR-15a, miR-16, and miR-101 showed upregulation as a result of dehydration stress, while anti-apoptotic miRNAs miR-19b, miR-21, miR-92a, and miR-155 showed differential regulation between the two tissues. Together, these miRNAs act in a more diverse fashion than arbitrarily pro- or anti-apoptotic, and encompass functions ranging from the inhibition of cell proliferation through cell cycle arrest to the prevention of skeletal muscle atrophy.
非洲爪蟾（Xenopus laevis）会经历季节性夏眠，以在其湖底栖息地干涸时生存下来。这种青蛙会失去约 30%的总体液，导致血流量受损和缺血，从而在这些恶劣条件下危及细胞生存。microRNAs 是 21-24 个核苷酸长的短、非编码、单链 RNA，已广泛涉及到代谢减缓反应，并发挥包括细胞凋亡生存等功能。研究测量了夏眠非洲爪蟾肝脏和骨骼肌中的三种促凋亡和四种抗凋亡 microRNA 的水平，并进行了生物信息学分析，以验证这些 microRNA 的潜在 mRNA 靶标。促凋亡 microRNA 成员 miR-15a、miR-16 和 miR-101 由于脱水应激而上调，而抗凋亡 microRNA 成员 miR-19b、miR-21、miR-92a 和 miR-155 在两种组织中表现出不同的调节。总的来说，这些 microRNA 的作用方式比任意的促凋亡或抗凋亡更为多样化，涵盖了从通过细胞周期阻滞抑制细胞增殖到防止骨骼肌萎缩等功能。
