microRNA Plays a Role in Major Depression
MicroRNAs (miRNA) recently discovered a class of non-coding RNAs, which play an imperative regulatory role in plants and animals by targeting specific mRNAs for translation repression or degradation. The miRNA is associated with the etiology disease, thus, has been studied for treatment. Moreover, numerous clinical and preclinical trials have been introduced for miRNA-based therapeutics.
A tiny RNA appears to play a role in producing major depression, the mental disorder that affects as many as 250 million people a year worldwide.
Major depression, formally known as major depressive disorder, or MDD, brings increased risk of suicide and is reported to cause the second-most years of disability after low-back pain.
Micro RNAs, or miRNAs, interact with messenger RNA after the miRNA is exported from the cell nucleus and processed by a team of enzymes. MiRNAs are robust players of gene regulation in cells, and there are more than 1,300 different miRNAs at work in the brain.
Download PDF Brochure of Study Here
To understand gene expression and how microRNA works, it’s helpful to know how cells use a gene’s DNA to make a protein. It happens through a four-step process called protein synthesis.
Messenger RNA transmits genetic information to the proteins, and microRNA plays a key role in the regulation of gene expression. Scientists from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and the Research Centre for Medical Genetics have described the complex interactions between these two and other kinds of human RNA. The paper was published in Frontiers in Genetics.
MicroRNAs are a group comprising about 2,500 molecules known for human so far, which bind with proteins from the Argonaute family (AGO) and function together. The small-sized microRNA-AGO complex binds to particular mRNA sites, and it is always the microRNA component of the complex that determines which region of which mRNA to bind to.
While the interaction occurs between microRNA and mRNA, it is often seen as that between microRNA and the gene encoding the mRNA. This silencing is one of the numerous mechanisms for regulating gene expression. Cells employ them to control gene productivity by enabling or disabling genes to a varying degree. Misregulation of gene expression due to microRNA "malfunctions" can cause cancer and other pathologies.
In their new research, the scientists combined the experimental data on the amount of mRNA and microRNA formed in a cell with the data on the interactions between these two kinds of RNA for two types of human cells. The team explored the connection between the amount of a microRNA in a cell and it's binding activity. One would expect the two quantities to be in direct proportion to each other, but that proved not to be the case. The researchers also looked at how many pairs an mRNA formed and whether with the same or with different microRNAs. Scientifically speaking, the geneticists explored the relation between the expression level and the binding activity for mRNA and microRNA. They also explored the way the behavior of these pairs depends on cell type.
The study also established a list of reliable microRNA-binding regions — the places where mRNA and microRNA interact with each other. This led the team to create online software that determines whether a given position in the human genome coincides with a microRNA binding site. It helps to identify the disruption of microRNA binding and therefore of gene regulation, which means that it can explain genetically inherited diseases. The program could be used for analyzing the genome of patients. Mapping all the interactions between microRNA and human genes helps to reveal the molecular basis of congenital and acquired disorders.
Leading companies operating in this research are Quantabio, SeqMatic, Dharmacon, Synlogic, NanoString Technologies, BioGenex, Gene Copoeia, QIAGEN, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Merck KGaA.
References:
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-11/miop-mca111419.php
https://neurosciencenews.com/mirna-depression-genetics-4998/
https://cancer.osu.edu/microrna
https://www.theinsightpartners.com/reports/microrna-mirna-market