title: Quantitative analysis of miRNA expression in seven human foetal and adult organs.
abstract: miRNAs have been found to repress gene expression at posttranscriptional level in cells. Studies have shown that expression of miRNAs is tissue-specific and developmental-stage-specific. The mechanism behind this could be explained by miRNA pathways. In this study, totally 54 miRNAs were analysed in 7 matched human foetal and adult organs (brain, colon, heart, kidney, liver, lung and spleen) using real-time PCR. Quantitative analysis showed that a big proportion of the 54 miRNAs have higher general expression in the organs of the foetal period than the adult period, with the exception of the heart. The miRNA gene promoter methylation level in the adult stages was higher than in the foetal stages. Moreover, there is a high general expression level of several miRNAs in both stages of brain, kidney, liver, lung and spleen, but not seen in colon and heart. Our results indicate that the miRNAs may play a bigger role in the foetal stage than the adult stage of brain, colon, kidney, liver, lung and spleen. The majority of the miRNAs analysed may play an important role in the growth and development of brain, kidney, liver, lung and spleen. However, a minority of the miRNAs may be functional in colon and heart.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Genetics, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Yanping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Lijie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Sigurdur
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ingvarsson
authors.forename: Huiping
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D019175:DNA Methylation / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000378:metabolism*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D009928:Organ Specificity / Q000235:genetics*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; C487931:mirnlet7 microRNA, human