Premium
MicroRNA binding sites in the coding region of mRNAs: Extending the repertoire of post‐transcriptional gene regulation
Author(s) -
Brümmer Anneke,
Hausser Jean
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/bies.201300104
Subject(s) - microrna , argonaute , biology , untranslated region , messenger rna , rna binding protein , post transcriptional regulation , gene , translation (biology) , regulation of gene expression , computational biology , translational regulation , rna , gene expression , transcriptional regulation , three prime untranslated region , genetics , microbiology and biotechnology , rna interference
It is well established that microRNAs (miRNAs) induce mRNA degradation by binding to 3′ untranslated regions (UTRs). The functionality of sites in the coding domain sequence (CDS), on the other hand, remains under discussion. Such sites have limited impact on target mRNA abundance and recent work suggests that miRNAs bind in the CDS to inhibit translation. What then could be the regulatory benefits of translation inhibition through CDS targeting compared to mRNA degradation following 3′ UTR binding? We propose that these domain‐dependent effects serve to diversify the functional repertoire of post‐transcriptional gene expression control. Possible regulatory benefits may include tuning the time‐scale and magnitude of post‐transcriptional regulation, regulating protein abundance depending on or independently of the cellular state, and regulation of the protein abundance of alternative splice variants. Finally, we review emerging evidence that these ideas may generalize to RNA‐binding proteins beyond miRNAs and Argonaute proteins.