title: Intronic miR-932 targets the coding region of its host gene, Drosophila neuroligin2.
abstract: Despite great progress for two decades in microRNAs (miRNAs), the direct regulation of host gene by intragenic (mostly intronic) miRNA is conceptually plausible but evidence-limited. Here, we report that intronic miR-932 could target its host gene via binding with coding sequence (CDS) region rather than regular 3'UTR. The conserved miR-932 is embedded in the fourth intron of Drosophila neuroligin2 (dnlg2), which encodes a synaptic cell adhesion molecule, DNlg2. In silico analysis predicted two putative miR-932 target sites locate in the CDS region of dnlg2 instead of regular 3'-UTR miRNA binding sites. Employing luciferase reporter assay, we further proved that the miR-932 regulates expression of its host gene dnlg2 via the binding CDS region of dnlg2. Consistently, we observed miR-932 downregulated expression of dnlg2 in S2 cell, and the repression of dnlg2 by miR-932 at both protein and RNA level. Furthermore, we found CDS-located site1 is dominant for regulating expression of host dnlg2 by miR-932. In addition to providing thorough examination of one intronic miRNA targeting the CDS region of its host gene, our genome-wide analysis indicated that nearly half of fruitfly and human intronic miRNAs may target their own host gene at coding region. This study would be valuable in elucidating the regulation of intronic miRNA on host gene, and provide new information about the biological context of their genomic arrangements and functions.
authors: The Key Laboratory of Developmental Genes and Human Disease, Institute of Life Sciences, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.
authors: Jinjun
authors: J
authors: Qian
authors: The Key Laboratory of Developmental Genes and Human Disease, Institute of Life Sciences, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.
authors: Renjun
authors: R
authors: Tu
authors: The Key Laboratory of Developmental Genes and Human Disease, Institute of Life Sciences, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical School of Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, China. Electronic address: yld@seu.edu.cn.
authors: Liudi
authors: L
authors: Yuan
authors: The Key Laboratory of Developmental Genes and Human Disease, Institute of Life Sciences, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China. Electronic address: wei.xie@seu.edu.cn.
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Xie
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015816:Cell Adhesion Molecules, Neuronal / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D002460:Cell Line; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D017344:Genes, Insect; D015894:Genome, Human; D006257:Head; D006801:Humans; D007438:Introns / Q000235:genetics*; D008156:Luciferases / Q000378:metabolism; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D016366:Open Reading Frames / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D015816:Cell Adhesion Molecules, Neuronal; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; C581597:MIRN932 microRNA, Drosophila; D035683:MicroRNAs; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C098003:neuroligin 2; D008156:Luciferases
keywords: Host gene; Intronic miRNA; Neuroligin2; Target CDS region; miR-932