Fishing Into the MicroRNA Transcriptome.

Marcos E Herkenhoff,Danillo Pinhal,Alexandre W S Hilsdorf,Juliana M Costa,Pedro G Nachtigall,Vinicius F Campos,Arthur C Oliveira

doi:10.3389/fgene.2018.00088

Marcos E Herkenhoff, Danillo Pinhal + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2018.00088

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Abstract

In the last decade, several studies have been focused on revealing the microRNA (miRNA) repertoire and determining their functions in farm animals such as poultry, pigs, cattle, and fish. These small non-protein coding RNA molecules (18–25 nucleotides) are capable of controlling gene expression by binding to messenger RNA (mRNA) targets, thus interfering in the final protein output. MiRNAs have been recognized as the main regulators of biological features of economic interest, including body growth, muscle development, fat deposition, and immunology, among other highly valuable traits, in aquatic livestock. Currently, the miRNA repertoire of some farmed fish species has been identified and characterized, bringing insights about miRNA functions, and novel perspectives for improving health and productivity. In this review, we summarize the current advances in miRNA research by examining available data on Neotropical and other key species exploited by fisheries and in aquaculture worldwide and discuss how future studies on Neotropical fish could benefit from this knowledge. We also make a horizontal comparison of major results and discuss forefront strategies for miRNA manipulation in aquaculture focusing on forward-looking ideas for forthcoming research.

Highlights

MicroRNAs are a class of small (17–22 nucleotides), non-coding RNAs that inhibit gene expression post-transcriptionally by pairing with complementary sequences in their target messenger RNA (mRNA) (Box 1)
Regarding Neotropical fish, these numbers are even smaller since very few species have been studied regarding miRNA functions
Since interactions between miRNAs and their targets can be strongly conserved among species, several interactions verified in previous studies could be extrapolated to Neotropical fish species, thereby remarkably improving fish aquaculture

Summary

Introduction

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small (17–22 nucleotides), non-coding RNAs that inhibit gene expression post-transcriptionally by pairing with complementary sequences in their target mRNA (Box 1). These small regulatory molecules are present in the genome of animals, plants, and even some viruses (Lee et al, 1993; Bartel, 2004; Kim et al, 2009; Xia et al, 2011). The pre-miRNA is transported from the nucleus to cytoplasm by Exportin-5 and is recognized and cleaved by the RNase III Dicer to form a double-stranded RNA with 22 nt (Hutvágner et al, 2001; Lund et al, 2004). The double strands unbind and one of the strands enters in the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC), becoming a mature miRNA that can exercise its gene silencing function, whereas the other strand is generally degraded or, in some cases, can form an RISC (Khvorova et al, 2003)

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