miR-1 mediated suppression of Sorcin regulates myocardial contractility through modulation of Ca2 + signaling

MicroRNAs are negative gene regulators and play important roles in cardiac development and disease. As evident by cardiomyopathy following cardiac-specific Dicer knockdown they also are required for maintaining normal cardiac contractile function but the specific role of miR-1 in the process is poorly understood. To characterize the role of miR-1 in particular and to identify its specific targets we created a tamoxifen-inducible, cardiac-specific Dicer knockdown mouse and demonstrated that Dicer downregulation results in a dramatic and rapid decline in cardiac function concurrent with significantly reduced levels of miR-1. The importance of miR-1 was established by miR-1 antagomir treatment of wild-type mice, which replicated the cardiac-specific Dicer knockdown phenotype. Down-regulation of miR-1 was associated with up-regulation of its predicted target Sorcin, an established modulator of calcium signaling and excitation-contraction coupling, subsequently verified as a miR-1 target with luciferase constructs. siRNA-mediated knockdown of Sorcin effectively rescued the cardiac phenotypes after Dicer or miR-1 knockdown affirming Sorcin as a critical mediator of the acute cardiomyopathy observed. The regulatory relationship between miR-1 and Sorcin was further confirmed in cultured mouse cardiomyocytes where modulation of miR-1 was associated with discordant Sorcin levels and dysregulation of calcium signaling. Pathological relevance of our findings included decreased miR-1 and increased Sorcin expression in end-stage cardiomyopathy. These findings demonstrate the importance of miR-1 in cardiac function and in the pathogenesis of heart failure via Sorcin-dependent calcium homeostasis.

► The role of microRNAs in cardiac contractile function is examined.
► Knockdown of miR-1 in the heart result in rapid decline of cardiac function.
► Sorcin is a non-redundant miR-1 target demonstrated by in-vivo rescue strategy.
► Discordant miR-1 and Sorcin levels are associated with Ca2 + signaling dysregulation.
► miR-1 is essential in maintaining normal cardiac contractile function.