title: The miR-20-Rest-Wnt signaling axis regulates neural progenitor cell differentiation.
abstract: Increasing evidence suggests that three dimensional (3-D) cell cultures are an improvement over traditional two dimensional (2-D) cell cultures. Current researches have extensively focused on the study of utilizing biomaterial-based 3-D culture systems to study and direct stem-cell fate both in vitro and in vivo. Here in our study, we screened the differential expression patterns of miRNAs between 2-D cultured and 3-D cultured NPCs using microarray analysis. Among these differentially expressed miRNAs, miR-20 was found to increase during differentiation of NPCs. Specifically, the facilitative effect on neural differentiation of miR-20 is mediated, at least in part by directly target the Rest gene, which is essential for preventing neural differentiation and maintaining NPCs self-renewal. Furthermore, the expression of miR-20 was decreased when the WNT pathway was inhibited by knock down of β-catenin or by exogenous Dkk protein, whereas it increased when the WNT pathway was activated by exogenous Wnt3a protein. Overall, miR-20, Rest and Wnt signaling are suggested to be involved in a regulatory circuit that can modulate the neural differention of NPCs. This novel regulatory circuit provides additional insight into how microRNAs interact with signaling molecules during neural differentiation of NPCs, allowing for fine-tuning of intricate cellular processes.
authors.affiliation: Reproductive and Genetic Center of National Research Institute for Family Planning, Beijing 100081, China.|State key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: State key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: State key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Zhifeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.|The State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Tong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Sumei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Sufang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Public Health of Ministry of Agriculture, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, CAAS, Lanzhou 730046, China.
authors.forename: Yongxiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: State key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Jianshu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: The State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Xiujie
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Reproductive and Genetic Center of National Research Institute for Family Planning, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: State key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Jianwu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dai
mesh_terms: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D015870:Gene Expression; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000502:physiology*; D058953:Neural Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D034622:RNA Interference; D051381:Rats; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D060449:Wnt Signaling Pathway; D000099229:RE1-Silencing Transcription Factor
chemical_list: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D035683:MicroRNAs; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D000099229:RE1-Silencing Transcription Factor; C573236:MIRN20 microRNA, rat