Open AccessNumerical modelling of microRNA-mediated mRNA decay identifies novel mechanism of microRNA controlled mRNA downregulation
Author(s) -
Jiřı́ Vohradský,
Josef Panek,
Tomáš Vomastek
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
nucleic acids research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 9.008
H-Index - 537
eISSN - 1362-4954
pISSN - 0305-1048
DOI - 10.1093/nar/gkq220
Subject(s) - microrna , biology , messenger rna , untranslated region , three prime untranslated region , downregulation and upregulation , translation (biology) , gene expression , p bodies , post transcriptional regulation , regulation of gene expression , au rich element , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , genetics
Post-transcriptional control of mRNA by micro-RNAs (miRNAs) represents an important mechanism of gene regulation. miRNAs act by binding to the 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) of an mRNA, affecting the stability and translation of the target mRNA. Here, we present a numerical model of miRNA-mediated mRNA downregulation and its application to analysis of temporal microarray data of HepG2 cells transfected with miRNA-124a. Using the model our analysis revealed a novel mechanism of mRNA accumulation control by miRNA, predicting that specific mRNAs are controlled in a digital, switch-like manner. Specifically, the contribution of miRNAs to mRNA degradation is switched from maximum to zero in a very short period of time. Such behaviour suggests a model of control in which mRNA is at a certain moment protected from binding of miRNA and further accumulates with a basal rate. Genes associated with this process were identified and parameters of the model for all miRNA-124a affected mRNAs were computed.