Abstract
High-energy and high-atom-number (HZE) space radiation poses an inevitable potential threat to astronauts on deep space exploration missions. Compared with low-LET radiation, high-energy and high-LET radiation in space is more efficient in inducing clustered DNA damage with more serious biological consequences, such as carcinogenesis, central nervous system injury and degenerative disease. Space radiation also causes epigenetic changes in addition to inducing damage at the DNA level. Considering the important roles of microRNAs in the regulation of biological responses of radiation, we systematically reviewed both expression profiling and functional studies relating to microRNAs responding to space radiation as well as to space compound environment. Finally, the directions for improvement of the research related to microRNAs responding to space radiation are proposed. A better understanding of the functions and underlying mechanisms of the microRNAs responding to space radiation is of significance to both space radiation risk assessment and therapy development for lesions caused by space radiation.
Highlights
High-energy and high-atom-number (HZE) space radiation poses an inevitable potential threat to astronauts on deep space exploration missions
Studies have found that most of miRNA genes are located in the intergenic region 1 kb away from the annotated genes, while some of miRNA genes are located in the introns of known genes and share the transcriptional elements with their host genes
It was found by Bradley that 70% of the mammalian miRNA genes were located in a specific transcription unit, and 117 of 232 miRNAs were located in the introns, of which 90 were located in the introns of protein-encoding genes, and 27 were located in non-coding RNAs in the introns
Summary
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small single-stranded endogenous noncoding RNAs of 18-24 nucleotides at length, which are identified in various organisms, including mammals, plants, and many microorganisms. A miRNA interacts with its target genes to form a regulatory network, which acts in almost all life processes It has been shown by many studies that miRNAs are a key group of important modulators in biological processes and play important roles in development [37,38], organogenesis [39,40], cell proliferation and differentiation [41], cell cycle regulation [41,42], cell apoptosis [43,44,45], aging [46,47,48], pathogenesis [49,50], cellular response to stresses [51,52,53,54], etc. In particular research on HZE particle radiation-induced miRNAs and their roles in the regulation of the corresponding biological effects has made great progress
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