Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1928782 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 2013 5 Pages PDF
Abstract

•miRNA-125 is a bona fide negative regulator of SMG1 in humans.•miR-125 binds to a MRE in 3′ UTR of SMG1 mRNA and leads to its degradation.•miR-125 suppresses the NMD pathway by repressing the levels of SMG1 protein.•We suggest the existence of an RNA circuit linking the microRNA and NMD pathways.

Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is a cellular response mechanism that eliminates aberrant mRNA transcripts and thereby prevents the production of potentially deleterious C-terminally truncated proteins. The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-related protein kinase SMG1 is considered to be an essential factor in the NMD pathway. We demonstrate that the brain-enriched microRNA, miRNA-125 (miRNA-125a and miRNA-125b) is a bona fide negative regulator of SMG1 in humans. Down-regulation of SMG1 expression is mediated by miRNA-125 binding to a microRNA response element in the 3′ untranslated region of SMG1 mRNA, which leads to degradation of the SMG1 mRNA. In human cells, overexpression of miR-125 represses the endogenous levels of SMG1 protein and suppresses the NMD pathway; however, knockdown of miR-125 up-regulates the NMD pathway. These results suggest the existence of an RNA circuit linking the microRNA and NMD pathways.

Keywords
Related Topics
Life Sciences Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology Biochemistry
Authors
, , , , ,