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miR-122 in mammalian liver
Book chapter

miR-122 in mammalian liver

Jinhong Chang and John M. Taylor
MicroRNAs, pp 338-349
20 Dec 2007

Abstract

IntroductionMicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules about 22 nucleotides (nt) in length. They are derived by cleavage from larger precursor RNAs, most of which seem to be polyadenylated polymerase II transcripts (Lee et al., 2002). The processing of miRNA depends on two consecutive actions. The first is by the endonuclease drosha, which acts in the nucleus and cleaves the primary miRNA transcripts (pri-miRNAs) into ∼70–80 nt hairpin-like miRNA precursors (pre-miRNAs)(Lee et al., 2003). This miRNA precursor is then transported to the cytoplasm (Bohnsack et al., 2004; Lund et al., 2004) where it is further cleaved by the nuclease dicer, to release the mature miRNA species (Ketting et al., 2001; Lee et al., 2003). These miRNAs can then regulate the expression of target genes with complementary sequence by either cleavage of the target mRNA or inhibition of the translation (Bartel, 2004).In mammals, hundreds of miRNAs have been identified, some of which are expressed in tissue-specific (Lagos-Quintana et al., 2002) and developmental stage-specific manner (Krichevsky et al., 2003). Altered expression of specific miRNA genes has been associated with the development of cancers (McManus, 2003; see also Chapter 23 in this book). miR-122 is a liver-specific miRNA and in a recent study we examined the expression of miR-122 during mouse liver development and in liver tumors (Chang et al., 2004).

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Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
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