A useful method of identifying of miRNAs which can down-regulate Zeb-2

• Published in: BMC research notes Vol. 6; no. 1; p. 470
• Main Authors: Oba, Shigeyoshi, Mizutani, Takayuki, Suzuki, Etsu, Nishimatsu, Hiroaki, Takahashi, Masao, Ogawa, Yousuke, Kimura, Kenjiro, Hirata, Yasunobu, Fujita, Toshiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 18.11.2013; BioMed Central
• Subjects: 3' Untranslated Regions - genetics; Academic libraries; Algorithms; Analysis; Animals; Base Sequence; Binding Sites; Biological Assay; Cadherins - genetics; Cadherins - metabolism; Cell culture; Cloning; Colleges & universities; Disease; Gene Expression Regulation; Genes; Genes, Reporter; Homeodomain Proteins - genetics; Homeodomain Proteins - metabolism; Humans; Luciferase; Luciferases - genetics; Luciferases - metabolism; Medical research; Medicine; Methods; Mice; MicroRNA; MicroRNAs; MicroRNAs - genetics; MicroRNAs - metabolism; Molecular Sequence Data; NIH 3T3 Cells; Nucleotide sequence; Proteins; Repressor Proteins - genetics; Repressor Proteins - metabolism; Small Molecule Libraries; Sodium-Bicarbonate Symporters - genetics; Sodium-Bicarbonate Symporters - metabolism; Technical Note; Zinc Finger E-box Binding Homeobox 2
• ISSN: 1756-0500; 1756-0500
• DOI: 10.1186/1756-0500-6-470

Although identification of the target mRNAs of micro RNAs (miRNAs) is essential to understanding their function, the low complementarity between miRNAs and their target mRNAs has complicated this process. In this study, we sought to identify miRNAs which reduce the expression of the transcription factor Zeb-2, a transcriptional repressor of E-cadherin which is known to be down regulated by members of the miR-200 family (miR-200a,b,c miR-429, and miR-141). We first used a computational target predicting system to identify 82 candidate miRNAs which bound the 3'UTR region of the Zeb-2 mRNA. Of these 82 miRNAs, precursors for 51 were available in our miRNA precursor library. Pre-miR™ Precursor Molecules for these 51 miRNAs were co-transfected into NIH3T3 cells with a luciferase reporter vector containing the 3'UTR region of the Zeb-2 mRNA. Seven miRNAs (miR-141, mi-183, miR-200a, miR-200b, miR-200c, miR-429 and miR-666-5p) were shown to down-regulate luciferase activity and Western blotting analysis confirmed that Pre-miR™ Precursor Molecules for these seven miRNAs induced expression of E-cadherin and miScript target protector against miR-183 and miR-666-5p abrogated this effect. Moreover, an Anti-miR™ miRNA Inhibitor targeting miR-183 and miR-666-5p repressed expression of E-cadherin. We have established a method to identify miRNAs that bind the 3'UTR region of the Zeb-2 mRNA and that induce expression of E-cadherin, possibly by down-regulating the expression of Zeb-2. Our method may be more widely applicable for identifying miRNAs that bind target mRNA 3'UTR regions and down-regulate the expression of proteins encoded by these mRNAs.