title: The role of miR-124a in early development of the Xenopus eye.
abstract: It has been reported that miR-124a is abundant in the central nervous system including the eye, and is related to neurogenesis in several species. However, the role of miR-124a in the eye remains unclear. In this study, we show that the expression of miR-124a in Xenopus laevis begins along the neural fold, including the protruding eye anlagen, at a low level at around stage 18; its expression level gradually increases in the neural tube and the eye as embryos develop into later stages and then maintains at a high level in eye to adult stages. Microinjection of a miR-124a precursor at the 8-cell stage leads to malformation of the optic nerve and optic cup, indicating the importance of maintaining low levels of miR-124a during early embryonic development. In addition, miR-124a overexpression markedly down regulates the expression of its predicted targets Lhx2, Hairy2, Gli3, NeuroD1 and Otx2 in/around the eye anlagen, and the interaction of miR-124a with the 3' UTR of Lhx2 represses gene expression as shown by luciferase assays. Moreover, excess miR-124a inhibits cell proliferation in the eye of Xenopus embryos during retinogenesis. These results indicate that miR-124a acts as a post-transcriptional regulator in the genetic network controlling eye morphogenesis and neurogenesis. The mechanism of miR-124a's early interaction with the genetic network may also persist in its later role in the maturing and adult eye and brain.
authors.affiliation: The State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Kaili
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Weichuan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Mo
authors.forename: Alex S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Flynt
authors.forename: James G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Patton
authors.forename: Amar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kar
authors.forename: Jane Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Rongqiao
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D017931:DNA Primers; D015536:Down-Regulation; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000235:genetics*; D005123:Eye / Q000196:embryology*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000502:physiology*; D014981:Xenopus / Q000196:embryology*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D035683:MicroRNAs
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