MicroRNA in Biological News

Yale scientists show that a microRNA can reduce lung cancer growth

New Haven, Conn. A small RNA molecule, known as let-7 microRNA (miRNA), substantially reduced cancer growth in multiple mouse models of lung cancer, according to work by researchers at Yale University and Asuragen, Inc., published in the journal Cell Cycle. Cancer afflicts 1.5 million people...

MIT reports new twist in microRNA biology

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - MIT scientists have found a new way that DNA can carry out its work that is about as surprising as discovering that a mold used to cast a metal tool can also serve as a tool itself, with two complementary shapes each showing distinct functional roles. Professor Manolis Kellis...

Massive microRNA scan uncovers leads to treating muscle degeneration

Researchers have discovered the first microRNAs tiny bits of code that regulate gene activity linked to each of 10 major degenerative muscular disorders, opening doors to new treatments and a better biological understanding of these debilitating, poorly understood, often untreatable diseases. Th...

Scientists identify novel inhibitor of human microRNA

Scientists at The Wistar Institute and their colleagues have identified, for the first time, a molecule that can regulate microRNAs short strands of RNA that play a vital role in gene expression and are closely associated with cancer. The discovery points the way to the development of a new gener...

Xie Lab demonstrates the role of microRNA pathway

Ting Xie, Ph.D., Associate Investigator, and Zhigang Jin, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Xie Lab, have published results showing that the microRNA pathway is essential for controlling self-renewal of germline stem cells and somatic stem cells in the Drosophila ovary. The paper, ...

Unicellular microRNA discovery

In the May 15th issue of Genes & Development, an international collaboration of researchers, led by Dr. Yijun Qi (National Institute of Biological Sciences, China), report on their discovery of microRNAs in the unicellular green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. This is the first finding of micr...

Pair of microRNA molecules controls major oncogene in most common leukemia

Researchers at Ohio State University have discovered that two microRNA (miRNA) molecules help control the oncogene responsible for a dangerous form of B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL), the most common human leukemia in the world. Their findings, published in the December 15 issue of C...

Activation of microRNA inhibits cancer gene in human cancer cells

Scientists report that tumor cells display a dramatic reduction of cancer-causing genes when a newly discovered method is used to activate the expression of protective microRNAs in the cancer cell genome. The research, published in the June issue of Cancer Cell, demonstrates that agents known to re...

Single microRNA causes cancer in transgenic mouse

Scientists in the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center say that just one, single, malfunctioning microRNA is sufficient to cause cancer in mice. The discovery offers new insight into the development of some forms of leukemia and lymphoma and at the same time underscores the powerful ro...

Role of microRNA identified in thyroid cancer

The presence of only five tiny strands of RNA is enough to clearly distinguish cancerous thyroid tissue from otherwise normal tissue, scientists say. The findings provide more evidence that an emerging set of RNA genes called microRNA (miRNA) is a powerful regulatory force in the development of ...

NYU, Rockefeller researchers find complexity of regulation by microRNA genes

Collaborating researchers at New York University and Rockefeller University have discovered that microRNA genes, which have recently been shown to have key roles in gene regulation, can team up and regulate target genes in mammals. MicroRNAs are a recently discovered large class of regulatory, non-...

Cooperation is key—a new way of looking at MicroRNA and how it controls gene expression

A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute is reporting a discovery that sheds light on an area of research fundamental to everything from the normal processes that govern the everyday life of human cells to the aberrant mechanisms that underlie many diseases, including cancer and sept...

Yale Scientists Find MicroRNA Regulates Ras Cancer Gene

Research in the laboratory of Assistant Professor Frank J. Slack at Yale University has identified a new way that a familiar gene is regulated in lung cancer, presenting new possibilities for diagnosis and treatment. The work is reported in March issues of the journals Cell and Developmental Cell. ...

International research team seeks to unravel flatworm regeneration

... researchers are convinced. The researchers looked for small RNAs in stem cells as well as in the whole planarian organism. They discovered 60 new microrna genes and could demonstrate that ten microRNAs are specifically linked to stem cell biology and may therefore play a role in regeneration. A few of th...

MicroRNAs help control HIV life cycle

...lished today in the journal Molecular Cell . Tariq Rana, Ph.D., director of the Program for RNA Biology at Burnham, and colleagues, found that the microrna miR29 suppresses translation of the HIV-1 genome by transporting the HIV mRNA to processing-bodies (P-bodies), where they are stored or destroyed. Thi...

MicroRNAs grease the cell's circadian clockwork

...ctivity of certain genes at a given time. "We have studied the role of a microrna called miR-122, which is highly abundant in liver. It has caught considerab...y embedded in the output system of the circadian clock in hepatocytes. This microrna regulates numerous circadian genes, impinging on the amplitude and duration...

Meet DNA's personal assistants

...ing scientists the world over understand what role microrna plays in skin, cervical and brain cancer, leukemia...from outer space. It's the only tool that profiles microrna in visuals," he says. "I am helping scientists find the microrna fingerprint," says Dr. Shomron, who started this w...

Researchers find snippet of RNA that helps make individuals remarkably alike

...ng uniformity: a little snippet of RNA called a microRNA. They found that a microrna called miR-7 is critical to the robustness of the molecular network that he...keep things intact, and animals suffered from developmental defects. If the microrna was present, however, the networks resisted the temperature fluctuation, an...

New early detection studies of lung cancer in non-smokers launched today

... Genome analysis: Genomic Studies of Lung Cancer Cell Lines from Lung Cancers Arising in Current, and Never Smokers (PIs: Lam and Lam) RNA analysis: microrna Profiles of a Lung Cancer Cell Line Panel (PI: Muneesh Tewari, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Wash.) Genome analysis: Genome-Wide DNA Methyl...

When cells reach out and touch

... that directly influences the global efficiency of microrna production," says Josh Mendell, M.D., Ph.D., an as... about 20 or so genetic building blocks comprise a microrna -- they always saw more in the tissues of animals,...e densely the cells were packed together, the more microrna was produced in each cell. The scientists the...

Scientists shed light on inner workings of human embryonic stem cells

...a little better." The new research shows that a microrna a single-stranded RNA whose function is to decrea...ients in the recipe for embryonic stem cells. This microrna is known as miR-145. The discovery may have implic...e is typically less "wiggle room" in the levels of microrna compared to mRNA, further studies are needed to qu...

Diminuendo -- New mouse model for understanding cause of progressive hearing loss

... The respective microrna seed region influences the production of sensory h...enetic mutant in which a single base of a specific microrna seed region has been altered. Mice carrying this m... mouse model we discovered this new class of genes microrna as genetic cause for this clinical picture," expl...

Scaling the wall of deafness

...studies in the UK and Spain, mutations in a single microrna were just reported to cause deafness in humans and...y "knocked-down" or blocked the functioning of the microrna molecules, and as a result, the hair cells degener...says Prof. Avraham. The work in fish suggests that microrna mutations may also cause abnormal development of t...

New insights into progressive hearing loss

... progressive hearing loss. The new gene - called a microrna - is a tiny fragment of RNA that affects the produ... However, they each found that a mutation in a microrna gene called miR-96 was associated with the hearing...croRNA," says Dr Moreno-Pelayo. "This is the first microrna gene associated with hearing impairment and, remar...

Scientists at CSHL discover mobile small RNAs that set up leaf patterning in plants

...rom larger RNA strands called precursors that are snipped at specific sites. Two cellular ingredients ensure that the cuts occur in the right place: a microrna molecule called miR390 that specifies the location of the first cut, and an enzyme called ARGONAUTE7 (AGO7) that ferries miR390 to this location and c...

Researchers identify genetic markers for aggressive head and neck cancer

...t RNA molecules that play key roles in regulating gene expression. Abnormal microrna levels have been associated with all types of cancer yet examined. In p...om patients, as well as normal tissue adjacent to their tumor, and measured microrna levels in the two types of tissue. Patients who fared worst had the low...

Regulatory molecule for tumor formation or suppression identified by Singapore, US researchers

...ists found that during embryonic development, this microrna keeps the level of p53 low to avoid excessive cell death. But, if the DNA is damaged, the microrna level is reduced to allow an increase in p53, whic... conducted with zebrafish. "Interestingly, this microrna is elevated in many types of human cancers, sugges...

Scientists at CSHL discover mobile small RNAs that set up leaf patterning in plants

...rom larger RNA strands called precursors that are snipped at specific sites. Two cellular ingredients ensure that the cuts occur in the right place: a microrna molecule called miR390 that specifies the location of the first cut, and an enzyme called ARGONAUTE7 (AGO7) that ferries miR390 to this location and c...

Toxicology program features wide range of human health and environment topical sessions

...and mechanisms of toxicity. For example, recent studies have shown that microRNAs have important roles during embryonic development and disruption of microrna synthesis in embryos can have dramatic consequences. MicroRNAs also are involved in several human studies and appear to regulate cellular responses to...

NYU Langone Medical Center researchers find micro RNA plays a key role in melanoma metastasis

...e, resistant to therapy, and deadly. Now, scientists from NYU Langone Medical Center have identified the possible culprita short strand of RNA called microrna (miRNA) that is over-expressed in metastatic melanoma cell lines and tissues. The new findings, published online this week and in...

Study links molecule to muscle maturation, muscle cancer

...earchers say this study is unusual because it also sheds light on the how a microrna itself is regulated. "This study shows that there is a connection between...muscle progenitor cells from maturing. When they raised the level of the microrna molecule in the cells, or lowered the level of the NF-B protein, th...

Formula discovered for longer plant life

.... These transcription factors are regulated by the microrna miR319. It was already known that miR319-regul...nt hormone jasmonic acid. The higher the amount of microrna miR319 present in the plant, the lower the number ... transcription factors, which are regulated by the microrna miR319, exert a negative influence on the growth o...

October 2008 Biology of Reproduction highlights

...is likely that differentiation to this stage can occur in the absence of DICER1. Nonetheless, Dicer1 CKO spermatogenic cells exhibited disruption of microrna processing and both quantitative and qualitative defects leading to the formation of functionally abnormal sperm. These data, together with other rece...

JDRF announces 2008 Scholar Award recipients

...ard for his project, "Role of MicroRNAs in T cell function in Type 1 diabetes." The Scholar Award will allow Dr. Bluestone to explore the function of microrna in regulatory T cells, which are critical for the prevention and control of autoimmune diabetes. MicroRNAs are small RNA molecules that can change ge...

MicroRNA implicated as molecular factor in alcohol tolerance

... recent years, a class of small molecules known as microrna have been found to play an important role in regul... and plant species. A new study now indicates that microrna may influence the development of alcohol tolerance... who is the director of the BNRI, examined whether microrna might be involved in the alcohol tolerance observe...

How to build a plant

...es in the tassel and the male structures in the ear are arrested. By analyzing the mutant tasselseed4 (t4), Hake and her colleagues found that the t4 microrna is important in determining the sex and cell fate of the groups of cells forming tassels and ears. Analyses of the mutant Corngrass1 (Cg1) demonstrat...

Hebrew University study opening new route for combating viruses

... of the ten notable advances of the year 2007." microrna genes are a class of very tiny genes found in a va...Medicine, who demonstrated experimentally that the microrna aids the virus in evading the immune system. This study showed for the first time that a viral microrna inhibits the activity of a gene of the human immun...

Scientists dig deeper into the genetics of schizophrenia by evaluating microRNAs

... of the 27 included in the 22q11.2 microdeletion and has a critical role in microrna production, so this was a logical hypothesis. Indeed, when they produced a ... in people with schizophrenia. Our studies show that alterations in microrna processing result in synaptic and behavioral deficits, said Dr. Gogos. Drs....

How body size is regulated

...ody size of about 3.5 centimeters. The analysis produced some biologically insightful findings. Several of the identified genes are targeted by the microrna let-7, which affects the regulation of other genes. This connection was completely unknown until now. Several other SNPs may affect the structure of c...

Two suppressor molecules affect 70 genes in leukemia

...clearly showed that these two microRNAs can suppress tumor development, says coauthor Muller Fabrri, a researcher in Croces laboratory. Because each microrna regulates many genes, the investigators wanted to learn which ones, in addition to Bcl2, are affected in cells lacking the two molecules. First, th...