MicroRNA对多细胞动物复杂性进化的影响.pdfVIP

HEREDITAS (Beijing) 2010 2 , 32(2): 105―114 ISSN 0253-9772 综述 DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1005.2010.00105 MicroRNA 对多细胞动物复杂性进化的影响 1, 2 1 戴中华 , 陈良标 1. , 100101; 2. , 100049 MicroRNA(miRNA)是一种长度约为22 个碱基的非编码单链小分子RNA 。作为一类重要的转录后基因表 达调控因子, miRNA 参与了广泛的生物学过程, 如发育时程调控、细胞分化、凋亡、肿瘤以及病毒抵抗等。然 而, 除了在个体发生过程中的重要功能外, 越来越多的研究表明, miRNA 在系统发生中也扮演着关键的角色。 基因表达模式的不同被广泛地认为是物种内和物种间表型差异的根源, 动物物种间 miRNA 的保守性和多样性 研究提示 miRNA 对物种间表型差异以及动物进化起着重要的作用。文章介绍了miRNA 产生过程和作用机制, 重点探讨了miRNA 在动物进化过程中的作用, 从miRNA 的进化速度、miRNA 表达的时空特异性、miRNA 作 用靶位点变异以及 miRNA 基因的扩增与丢失 4 个方面论述 miRNA 介导的基因调控网络对多细胞动物发育复 杂性进化的影响, 推测miRNA 在多细胞动物进化过程中驱动了复杂性的增加。 microRNA; 多细胞动物复杂性; 进化 The impact of microRNAs on the evolution of metazoan complexity DAI Zhong-Hua1, 2, CHEN Liang-Biao1 1. Key Laboratory of Molecular and Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; 2. Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China Abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a novel class of ~22 nt non-coding small RNAs. As crucial post-transcriptional regulators, miRNAs are involved in comprehensive biological processes such as developmental timing, cell proliferation and differentiation, oncogenesis and viral defenses. In addition to the roles in ontogenic physiology, researches on the area of miRNA phylogenetic conservation and diversity suggested that miRNAs play important roles in animal evolution through driving phenotypic variations in development. It has been postulated that miRNAs have enormous impacts on phe- notypic variation and developmental complexity. Here we reviewed recent advances in th