title: Discovery and functional characterization of novel miRNAs in the marine medaka Oryzias melastigma.
abstract: The marine medaka Oryzias melastigma has often been used as a marine fish model to investigate the biological responses to environmental stresses and pollutants in marine environments. miRNAs are post-transcriptional regulators of many biological processes in a variety of organisms, and have been shown to be affected by environmental stresses, but the novel miRNA profile of marine medaka has not been reported. Using both genome and small RNA sequencings coupled with different bioinformatics analyses, we have discovered 58, 82, 234, and 201 unannotated miRNAs in the brain, liver, ovary and testis tissues of marine medaka, respectively. Furthermore, these novel miRNAs were found to target genes with tissue-specific roles such as neuron development and synaptic transmission in the brain, glucose and fat metabolism in the liver and steroidogenesis in the gonads. We here report, for the first time, novel miRNA profile of marine medaka, which will provide a foundation for future biomarkers and transgenerational studies for the assessment of environmental stresses and pollutions in the marine environments. In a boarder context, our data will provide novel insight into our knowledge of miRNome and miR research.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Jing-Woei
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China; State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tse
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China; State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Ting Fung
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, Hong Kong; Department of Biology and Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Richard Yuen Chong
authors.initials: RY
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, Hong Kong; Department of Biology and Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China. Electronic address: kengplai@cityu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Keng Po
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, Hong Kong; Department of Science and Environmental Studies, Institute of Education, Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong. Electronic address: rudolfwu@hkied.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Rudolf Shiu Sun
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D016678:Genome / Q000235:genetics*; D006066:Gonads / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D009990:Oryzias / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D010053:Ovary / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D035683:MicroRNAs; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Biomarkers; Genome sequencing; Marine medaka; Novel microRNA; Small RNA sequencing