Identification of mechanism(s) of miRNA- mediated repression of translation

miRNA 介导的翻译抑制机制的鉴定

• 批准号: BB/F011806/2
• 负责人: Martin Bushell
• 金额: $ 22.54万
• 依托单位: MRC Toxicology Unit
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2010 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FF011806%2F2
• 关键词: Identification; mechanism; miRNA; mediated; repression

Recently, a completely new way of controlling gene expression has been identified. This has come to light after the discovery of a whole new class of genes comprising very small RNA molecules, that unlike most genes do not produce proteins. There are at least 800 of these small RNA molecules within the human genome which have different effects. They work by binding to the mRNA of other genes and inhibiting the target genes from being made into proteins. Each of these 800 small molecules is believed to interact with 100 other genes, thus adding to the complexity of the regulation of the human genome. Already it has become clear that malfunction of miRNA regulation is associated with a growing list of human disease, including: cancer; diabetes; and viral infections. In 2002 Science magazine called miRNA the breakthrough of the year and these small RNA molecular have been termed the 'Dark Matter of the cell'. At present there is great controversy within the scientific community over how these small RNA molecules repress gene expression. Laboratories around the world have shown conflicting data for how this repression mechanism functions, and have failed to reproduce each other's data. We have, for the first time, been able to shown both repression mechanisms operating and determined how these difference are occurring. We are now in a unique position to investigate the different mechanisms and to determine which genes are regulated by the different repression systems. This will lead to a great impact on the way in which we understand gene expression and the complexity of the human genome.

最近，已经确定了一种全新的控制基因表达的方法。在发现包含非常小的RNA分子的全新基因之后，这与大多数基因不产生蛋白质不同。人类基因组中至少有800个这些小的RNA分子具有不同的作用。它们通过与其他基因的mRNA结合并抑制将靶基因变成蛋白质而起作用。据信这800个小分子中的每一个都与其他100个基因相互作用，从而增加了人类基因组调节的复杂性。已经很明显，miRNA调节的故障与越来越多的人类疾病列表有关，包括：癌症；糖尿病;和病毒感染。在2002年，《科学杂志》（Mirna）称为“年度突破”，这些小的RNA分子被称为“细胞的暗物质”。目前，科学界在这些小的RNA分子如何抑制基因表达方面存在极大的争议。世界各地的实验室已经显示了这种抑制机制如何运作的数据，并且未能重现彼此的数据。我们首次能够显示出两种抑制机制的运行，并确定了这些差异的发生方式。现在，我们处于独特的位置，可以研究不同的机制，并确定哪些基因受不同的抑制系统调节。这将导致对我们了解基因表达和人类基因组复杂性的方式产生重大影响。