Comparing miRNAs and viroids; highly conserved molecular mechanisms for the transmission of genetic information

Abstract

OPINION article Front. Cell. Neurosci., 20 February 2014Sec. Cellular Neurophysiology https://doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2014.00045

All forms of life on earth, from the most ancient Archaebacteria and Lycopodiaceae to higher eukaryotes, display phenotypes based on genetic information transfer contained within, and regulated by, hierarchic orders of RNA
While our perceptions on the mechanism and relevance of miRNA signaling continues to evolve, it is generally accepted that the primary mode of miRNA action is to recognize and bind to complementary RNA sequences in the 3 un-translated region (3 -UTR) of target messenger RNAs and in doing so, down-regulate their expression (Lukiw et al, 2008; Guo et al, 2010; Witkos et al, 2011; Lukiw, 2012a)
Comparing miRNAs and viroids array, RNA-sequencing, Northern dot blot, and RT-PCR-based analysis suggest that abundant miRNAs in specialized cells such as human brain cells probably number less than ∼50, and only a significantly smaller fraction of these are utilized in pathological signaling of, for example, neurological disorders (Burmistrova et al, 2007; Lukiw and Pogue, 2007; Lukiw, 2012a)