title: The inducible deletion of Drosha and microRNAs in mature podocytes results in a collapsing glomerulopathy.
abstract: Micro-RNAs (miRNAs) are short (average 22 nucleotides) noncoding regulatory RNAs that inhibit gene expression by targeting complementary 3'-untranslated regions of protein-encoding mRNAs for translational repression or degradation. miRNAs play key roles in both the function and differentiation of many cell types. Drosha and Dicer, two RNAase III enzymes, function in a stepwise manner to generate a mature miRNA. Previous studies have shown that podocyte-specific deletion of Dicer during development results in proteinuric renal disease and collapsing glomerulopathy (CG); however, Dicer has functions other than the generation of miRNAs. Here we found that the podocyte-specific deletion of Drosha results in a similar phenotype to Dicer mutants, confirming that the Dicer mutant phenotype is due to the loss of miRNAs. Moreover, the inducible deletion of Drosha in 2- to 3-month-old mice (Tet-On system) resulted in CG. Thus, continuous generation of miRNAs are required for the normal function of mature podocytes and their loss leads to CG. Identifying these miRNAs may provide new insight into disease pathogenesis and novel therapeutic targets in various podocytopathies.
authors.affiliation: Skirball Institute for Biomolecular Medicine, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Zhdanova
authors.forename: Shekhar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Srivastava
authors.forename: Lie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Di
authors.forename: Zhai
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tchelebi
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dworkin
authors.forename: Duncan B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Johnstone
authors.forename: Jiri
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zavadil
authors.forename: Mark M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Chong
authors.forename: Dan R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Littman
authors.forename: Lawrence B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Holzman
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Barisoni
authors.forename: Edward Y
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Skolnik
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D054337:Cell Dedifferentiation; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D053487:DEAD-box RNA Helicases / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D050199:Podocytes / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D043244:Ribonuclease III / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D035683:MicroRNAs; C509781:Dicer1 protein, mouse; C513400:Drosha protein, mouse; D043244:Ribonuclease III; D053487:DEAD-box RNA Helicases