ABSTRACT
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that participate in a large variety of biological processes. In this paper, the spatiotemporal expression pattern of miR-370 was characterized during mouse embryonic development, and was found to be stage- and tissue-specifically expressed. In addition, through luciferase reporter assays and western blot analyses, DNA methyltransferase 3A (Dnmt3a) was identified as a directly regulated target of miR-370. Altogether, our results indicate that miR-370 may play important roles in the morphogenesis of diverse organs, especially brain and adrenal glands, by mediating Dnmt3a expression during mouse development.
Subject(s)
Adrenal Glands/metabolism , Brain/metabolism , DNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferases/genetics , Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental , MicroRNAs/genetics , Adrenal Glands/embryology , Adrenal Glands/ultrastructure , Animals , Base Sequence , Brain/embryology , Brain/ultrastructure , DNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferases/metabolism , DNA Methyltransferase 3A , Embryo, Mammalian , Female , Genes, Reporter , Luciferases , Mice , Mice, Inbred ICR , MicroRNAs/metabolism , Molecular Sequence Data , Organ Specificity , Signal Transduction , Time FactorsABSTRACT
Inpp5f-v3 is a transcriptional variant of Inpp5f (inositol polyphosphate-5-phosphatase F) and locates in distal mouse chromosome 7. It is a paternally expressed imprinted gene in mouse. In this study, we examined the spatiotemporal patterns of Inpp5f-v3 gene during the mouse development. The northern blotting analysis revealed that only one transcript approx 2.7 kb of Inpp5f-v3 was detected in brain. The signals were only observed in brain by the whole-mount in situ hybridization at embryonic day 11.5 (E11.5). The results of quantitative real-time PCR (QRT-PCR) showed that the expression of Inpp5f-v3 increased gradually from the E11.5 to E17.5 and reached the highest at E17.5, then decreased at E18.5 during the brain development. Inpp5f-v3 gene was strongly expressed in the cerebral cortex, olfactory bulb, external germinal layer of cerebellum and ventricular zone (Vz) during the embryonic development (E15.5-E19.5), whereas the expression increased in the olfactory bulb and the cerebellum after birth by using in situ hybridization. The results also demonstrated that the expression of Inpp5f-v3 gene mainly located in olfactory bulb and hippocampus at postnatal day 7 (P7) and adulthood. These results suggest that Inpp5f-v3 is specifically expressed in mouse brain, and may function in the development of mouse brain.
