title: MicroRNA-29a modulates axon branching by targeting doublecortin in primary neurons.
abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenously expressed small, non-coding transcripts that regulate protein expression. Substantial evidences suggest that miRNAs are enriched in central nervous system, where they are hypothesized to play pivotal roles during neural development. In the present study, we analyzed miRNAs expression in mice cerebral cortex and hippocampus at different developmental stages and found miR-29a increased dramatically at postnatal stages. In addition, we provided strong evidences that miR-29a is enriched in mature neurons both in vitro and in vivo. Further investigation demonstrated that the activation of glutamate receptors induced endogenous miR-29a level in primary neurons. Moreover, we showed that miR-29a directly regulated its target protein Doublecortin (DCX) expression, which further modulated axon branching in primary culture. Together, our results suggested that miR-29a play an important role in neuronal development of mice cerebrum.
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Engineering Research Center for MicroRNA Biology and Biotechnology, State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Nanjing University School of Life Sciences, Nanjing, 210093, China.
authors.forename: Hanqin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Susu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.forename: Haitao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zen
authors.forename: Chenyu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D000089622:Doublecortin Domain Proteins; D000089662:Doublecortin Protein; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D055495:Neurogenesis; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D009479:Neuropeptides / Q000235:genetics*; D061251:Primary Cell Culture
chemical_list: C000714847:Dcx protein, mouse; D000089622:Doublecortin Domain Proteins; D000089662:Doublecortin Protein; C547014:MIRN29 microRNA, mouse; D035683:MicroRNAs; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D009479:Neuropeptides