The miR-183/96/182 Cluster Regulates Sensory Innervation, Resident Myeloid Cells and Functions of the Cornea Through Cell type-specific Target Genes
The miR-183/96/182 cluster (miR-183C) is specifically expressed in sensory neurons and immune cells and modulates corneal immune/inflammatory response to bacterial infection. To uncover the roles of miR-183C in corneal homeostasis through its regulation of sensory neurons of the trigeminal ganglia (TG) and innate myeloid cells, we created miR-183C conventional knockout (KO), and sensory nerve-specific (SNS-CKO) and myeloid cell-specific conditional knockout (MS-CKO) mice. We performed 3'RNA sequencing in the TG and corneas of these knockout mice and their wild type (WT)-control littermates. To study specific functions of miR-183C in corneal resident myeloid cells (CRMCs), we isolated Csf1r-EGFP+ CRMCs from conventional KO and MS-CKO and their WT control mice. By comparison of the gene expression profiles of the KO or CKO vs their corresponding WT mice, we identified a series of differentially expressed genes. Bioinformatic analyses uncovered tissue- and/or cell-type-specific target genes of miR-183C. Functional annotation of the target genes revealed functions of miR-183C in TG and CRMCs. Overall design: Comparative gene expression profiling analysis of RNA-seq data of TG, cornea and CRMCs of male young adult (8-12 weeks old) miR-183C KO, SNS-CKO and MS-CKO and their WT control mice.