Abstract
In the central nervous system (CNS), miRNAs are involved in key functions, such as neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity. Moreover, they are essential to define specific transcriptomes in tissues and cells. However, few studies were performed to determine the miRNome of the different structures of the rat CNS, although a major model in neuroscience. Here, we determined by small RNA-Seq, the miRNome of the olfactory bulb, the hippocampus, the cortex, the striatum, and the spinal cord and showed the expression of 365 known miRNAs and 90 novel miRNAs. Differential expression analysis showed that several miRNAs were specifically enriched/depleted in these CNS structures. Transcriptome analysis by mRNA-Seq and correlation based on miRNA target predictions suggest that the specifically enriched/depleted miRNAs have a strong impact on the transcriptomic identity of the CNS structures. Altogether, these results suggest the critical role played by these enriched/depleted miRNAs, in particular the novel miRNAs, in the functional identities of CNS structures.
Highlights
MiRNAs comprise one of the most abundant classes of gene regulatory molecules in the organism
We focused our attention on the olfactory bulb, the cortex, the hippocampus, the striatum, and the spinal cord and found that of the 495 miRNAs referenced in miRNA database (miRBase), 365 are expressed in these five central nervous system (CNS) structures
We showed that each CNS structure expresses a particular miRNome, and interestingly, the novel miRNAs seem to play a key role in defining structure-specific miRNomes
Summary
MiRNAs comprise one of the most abundant classes of gene regulatory molecules in the organism They are small (22 nt) endogenous noncoding RNAs operating a negative translational regulation on mRNAs (Bartel, 2004). MiRNAs are involved in the regulation of most signaling pathways, both in physiology and in pathology, in a broad range of organisms from viruses to animals (Carrington & Ambros, 2003) Their biogenesis mostly starts by the transcription of the miRNA gene by RNA pol II, generating an imperfect stem-loop structure, called the pri-miRNA (Bartel, 2004; Cai et al, 2004; Lee et al, 2004). MiRNAs are considered key players in the regulation of cellular gene expression
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