title: MicroRNA regulation and interspecific variation of gene expression.
abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) modulate expression of their target genes in various tissues and at different developmental stages, but it is unclear whether they drive cross-species variation in gene expression. By comparing data from mammal and fly species we found that the cross-species expression variation of miRNA targets is significantly lower than that of other genes. This implies that miRNAs can affect gene expression by reducing stochastic noise, buffering cross-species variation and constraining evolutionary gene expression variation.
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Research Institute, National Research Council Canada, Montreal, Quebec, H4P 2R2, Canada.
authors.forename: Qinghua
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Zhenbao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Enrico O
authors.initials: EO
authors.lastname: Purisima
authors.forename: Edwin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000378:metabolism*; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs