Transcription factor and microRNA co-regulatory loops: important regulatory motifs in biological processes and diseases

Transcription factors (TFs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) can jointly regulate target gene expression in the forms of feed-forward loops (FFLs) or feedback loops (FBLs). These regulatory loops serve as important motifs in gene regulatory networks and play critical roles in multiple biological processes and different diseases. Major progress has been made in bioinformatics and experimental study for the TF and miRNA co-regulation in recent years. To further speed up its identification and functional study, it is indispensable to make a comprehensive review. In this article, we summarize the types of FFLs and FBLs and their identified methods. Then, we review the behaviors and functions for the experimentally identified loops according to biological processes and diseases. Future improvements and challenges are also discussed, which includes more powerful bioinformatics approaches and high-throughput technologies in TF and miRNA target prediction, and the integration of networks of multiple levels.

转录因子（TFS）和microRNA（miRNA）可以以馈送回路（FFL）或反馈回路（FBL）形式共同调节靶基因表达。这些调节环是基因调节网络中的重要基序，并在多种生物过程和不同疾病中起关键作用。近年来，对TF和miRNA共同调节的生物信息学和实验研究取得了重大进展。为了进一步加快其识别和功能研究的速度，进行全面审查是必不可少的。在本文中，我们总结了FFL和FBL的类型及其确定的方法。然后，我们根据生物学过程和疾病回顾了实验鉴定的循环的行为和功能。还讨论了未来的改进和挑战，其中包括更强大的生物信息学方法和TF和miRNA目标预测中的高通量技术，以及多个级别网络的整合。