• Molecules and Cells
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.379-385
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• 2019

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) comprise various RNA species, including small ncRNAs and long ncRNAs (lncRNAs). ncRNAs regulate various cellular processes, including transcription and translation of target messenger RNAs. Recent studies also indicate that ncRNAs affect organismal aging and conversely aging influences ncRNA levels. In this review, we discuss our current understanding of the roles of ncRNAs in aging and longevity, focusing on recent advances using the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. Expression of various ncRNAs, including microRNA (miRNA), tRNA-derived small RNA (tsRNA), ribosomal RNA (rRNA), PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA), circular RNA (circRNA), and lncRNA, is altered during aging in C. elegans. Genetic modulation of specific ncRNAs affects longevity and aging rates by modulating established aging-regulating protein factors. Because many aging-regulating mechanisms in C. elegans are evolutionarily conserved, these studies will provide key information regarding how ncRNAs modulate aging and lifespan in complex organisms, including mammals.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.11
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• pp.1714-1724
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• 2020

Objective: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are the most abundant small RNAs. Approximately 2,000 annotated miRNAs genes have been found to be differentially expressed in ovarian follicles during the follicular development (FD). Many miRNAs exert their regulatory effects on the apoptosis of follicular granulosa cells (FGCs) and FD. However, accurate roles and mechanism of miRNAs regulating apoptosis of FGCs remain undetermined. Methods: In this review, we summarized the regulatory role of each miRNA or miRNA cluster on FGCs apoptosis and FD on the bases of 41 academic articles retrieved from PubMed and web of science and other databases. Results: Total of 30 miRNAs and 4 miRNAs clusters in 41 articles were reviewed and summarized in the present article. Twenty nine documents indicated explicitly that 24 miRNAs and miRNAs clusters in 29 articles promoted or induced FGCs apoptosis through their distinctive target genes. The remaining 10 miRNAs and miRNAs of 12 articles inhibited FGCs apoptosis. MiRNAs exerted modulation actions by at least 77 signal pathways during FGCs apoptosis and FD. Conclusion: We concluded that miRNAs or miRNAs clusters could modulate the apoptosis of GCs (including follicular GCs, mural GCs and cumulus cells) by targeting their specific genes. A great majority of miRNAs show a promoting role on apoptosis of FGCs in mammals. But the accurate mechanism of miRNAs and miRNA clusters has not been well understood. It is necessary to ascertain clearly the role and mechanism of each miRNA or miRNA cluster in the future. Understanding precise functions and mechanisms of miRNAs in FGCs apoptosis and FD will be beneficial in developing new diagnostic and treatment strategies for treating infertility and ovarian diseases in humans and animals.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.71-77
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• 2012

Many of biochemical or physiological processes can be regulated by non-coding RNAs as well as coding RNAs in plants, animals and microbes. Recently, many small RNAs including microRNAs (miRNAs) and endogenous small interference RNAs (siRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs have been discovered from ubiquitous organisms including plants. Biotic and abiotic stresses are main causal agents of crop losses all over the world. Much efforts have been performed for understanding the complex mechanism of stress responses. Up to date, many of these researches have been related with the identification and investigation of stress-related proteins, showing limitation to resolve the complex mechanism. Recently, non-coding RNAs as well as coding genes have been gradually interested because of its potential roles in plant stress responses as well as other biophysical aspects. In this review, various potential roles of non-coding RNAs, especially miRNAs and siRNAs, are reviewed in relation with plant biotic and abiotic stresses.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.227-244
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• 2011

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNA molecules that negatively regulate gene expression via degradation or translational repression of their target messenger RNAs (mRNAs). Recent studies have clearly demonstrated that miRNAs play critical roles in several biologic processes, including cell cycle, differentiation, cell development, cell growth, and apoptosis and that miRNAs are highly expressed in regulatory T (Treg) cells and a wide range of miRNAs are involved in the regulation of immunity and in the prevention of autoimmunity. It has been increasingly reported that miRNAs are associated with various human diseases like autoimmune disease, skin disease, neurological disease and psychiatric disease. Recently, the identification of miRNAs in skin has added a new dimension in the regulatory network and attracted significant interest in this novel layer of gene regulation. Although miRNA research in the field of dermatology is still relatively new, miRNAs have been the subject of much dermatological interest in skin morphogenesis and in regulating angiogenesis. In addition, miRNAs are moving rapidly center stage as key regulators of neuronal development and function in addition to important contributions to neurodegenerative disorder. Moreover, there is now compelling evidence that dysregulation of miRNA networks is implicated in the development and onset of human neruodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, Tourette's syndrome, Down syndrome, depression and schizophrenia. In this review, I briefly summarize the current studies about the roles of miRNAs in various autoimmune diseases, skin diseases, psychoneurological disorders and mental stress.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.5637-5644
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• 2013

The definite molecular mechanisms underlying the genesis of nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPCs) remain to be completely elucidated. miRNAs are small non-coding RNAs which are implicated in cell proliferation, apoptosis, and even carcinogenesis through negatively regulating gene expression post-transcriptionally. EBV was the first human virus found to express miRNAs. EBV-encoded BART-miRNAs and dysregulated cellular miRNAs are involved in carcinogenesis of NPC by interfering in the expression of viral and host cell genes related to immune responses and perturbing signal pathways of proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, metastasis and even radio-chemo-therapy sensitivity. Additional studies on the roles of EBV-encoded miRNAs and cellular miRNAs will provide new insights concerning the complicated gene regulated network and shed light on novel strategies for the diagnosis, therapy and prognosis of NPC.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.77 no.2
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• pp.60-64
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• 2014

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small noncoding RNAs that modulate target gene activity, and are aberrantly expressed in most types of cancer as well in lung cancer. A miRNA can potentially target a diverse set of mRNAs; further, it plays a critical role in lung tumorigenesis as well as affects patient outcome. Previous studies focused mainly on abnormal miRNAs expressions in lung cancer tissues. Interestingly, circulating miRNAs were identified in human plasma and serum in 2008. Since then, considerable effort has been directed to the study of circulating miRNAs as one of the biomarkers of lung cancer. miRNAs expression of tissues and blood in lung cancer patients is being analyzed by more researchers. Recently, to overcome the high false-positivity of low-dose chest computed tomography scan, miRNAs in lung cancer screening are being investigated. This article summarizes the recent researches regarding clinical applications of miRNAs in the diagnosis and management of lung cancer.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.61-67
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• 2011

Recently, a significant understanding of the molecular mechanisms regulating spermatogenesis has been achieved utilizing small RNA molecules (small RNAs), including small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), microRNAs (miRNAs), and Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) which emerged as important regulators of gene expression at the post-transcriptional or translation level. piRNAs are only present in pachytene spermatocytes and round spermatids, whereas miRNAs are expressed abundantly in male germ cells throughout spermatogenesis. This review is aimed at providing a glimpse of piRNAs and their interacting family proteins such as PIWIL1, PIWIL2, and PIWIL4 in spermatogenesis.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.289-298
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• 2023

Complex diseases including cardiovascular disease are caused by a combination of the alternation of many genes and the influence of environments. Recently, non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) have been shown to be involved in diverse diseases, and the functions of various ncRNAs have been reported. Many researchers have elucidated the mechanisms of action of these ncRNAs at the cellular level prior to in vivo and clinical studies of the diseases. Due to the characteristics of complex diseases involving intercellular crosstalk, it is important to study communication between multiple cells. However, there is a lack of literature summarizing and discussing studies of ncRNAs involved in intercellular crosstalk in cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, this review summarizes recent discoveries in the functional mechanisms of intercellular crosstalk involving ncRNAs, including microRNAs, long non-coding RNAs, and circular RNAs. In addition, the pathophysiological role of ncRNAs in this communication is extensively discussed in various cardiovascular diseases.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.1371-1382
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• 2016

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNAs that post-transcriptionally regulate expression of mRNAs in many biological pathways. Liver plays an important role in the feed efficiency of animals and high and low efficient cattle demonstrated different gene expression profiles by microarray. Here we report comprehensive miRNAs profiles by next-gen deep sequencing in Angus cattle divergently selected for residual feed intake (RFI) and identify miRNAs related to feed efficiency in beef cattle. Two microRNA libraries were constructed from pooled RNA extracted from livers of low and high RFI cattle, and sequenced by Illumina genome analyser. In total, 23,628,103 high quality short sequence reads were obtained and more than half of these reads were matched to the bovine genome (UMD 3.1). We identified 305 known bovine miRNAs. Bta-miR-143, bta-miR-30, bta-miR-122, bta-miR-378, and bta-let-7 were the top five most abundant miRNAs families expressed in liver, representing more than 63% of expressed miRNAs. We also identified 52 homologous miRNAs and 10 novel putative bovine-specific miRNAs, based on precursor sequence and the secondary structure and utilizing the miRBase (v. 21). We compared the miRNAs profile between high and low RFI animals and ranked the most differentially expressed bovine known miRNAs. Bovine miR-143 was the most abundant miRNA in the bovine liver and comprised 20% of total expressed mapped miRNAs. The most highly expressed miRNA in liver of mice and humans, miR-122, was the third most abundant in our cattle liver samples. We also identified 10 putative novel bovine-specific miRNA candidates. Differentially expressed miRNAs between high and low RFI cattle were identified with 18 miRNAs being up-regulated and 7 other miRNAs down-regulated in low RFI cattle. Our study has identified comprehensive miRNAs expressed in bovine liver. Some of the expressed miRNAs are novel in cattle. The differentially expressed miRNAs between high and low RFI give some insights into liver miRNAs regulating physiological pathways underlying variation in this measure of feed efficiency in bovines.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.309-323
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• 2011

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of naturally occurring small non-coding RNAs of about 22 nucleotides that have recently emerged as important regulators of gene expression at the posttranscriptional level. Recent studies provided clear evidence that microRNAs are abundant in the lung, liver and kidney and modulate a diverse spectrum of their functions. Moreover, a large number of studies have reported links between alterations of miRNA homeostasis and pathological conditions such as infectious diseases, sickle cell disease and endometrium diseases as well as lung, liver and kidney diseases. As a consequence of extensive participation of miRNAs in normal functions, alteration and/or abnormalities in miRNAs should have importance in human diseases. Beside their important roles in patterning and development, miRNAs also orchestrated responses to pathogen infections. Particularly, emerging evidence indicates that viruses use their own miRNAs to manipulate both cellular and viral gene expression. Furthermore, viral infection can exert a profound impact on the host cellular miRNA expression profile, and several RNA viruses have been reported to interact directly with cellular miRNAs and/or to use these miRNAs to augment their replication potential. Here I briefly summarize the newly discovered roles of miRNAs in various human diseases including infectious diseases, sickle cell disease and enodmetrium diseases as well as lung, liver and kidney diseases.