Non-coding RNA in neural function, disease, and aging

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are evolutionarily conserved, 18- to 25-nucleotide, non-protein coding transcripts that posttranscriptionally regulate gene expression during development. miRNAs also occur in postmitotic cells, such as neurons in the mammalian central nervous system, but their function is less well characterized. We investigated the role of miRNAs in mammalian midbrain dopaminergic neurons (DNs). We identified a miRNA, miR-133b, that is specifically expressed in midbrain DNs and is deficient in midbrain tissue from patients with Parkinson's disease. miR-133b regulates the maturation and function of midbrain DNs within a negative feedback circuit that includes the paired-like homeodomain transcription factor Pitx3. We propose a role for this feedback circuit in the fine-tuning of dopaminergic behaviors such as locomotion.

A hexanucleotide GGGGCC repeat expansion in the noncoding region of the C9ORF72 gene is the most common genetic abnormality in familial and sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). The function of the C9ORF72 protein is unknown, as is the mechanism by which the repeat expansion could cause disease. Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-differentiated neurons from C9ORF72 ALS patients revealed disease-specific (1) intranuclear GGGGCCexp RNA foci, (2) dysregulated gene expression, (3) sequestration of GGGGCCexp RNA binding protein ADARB2, and (4) susceptibility to excitotoxicity. These pathological and pathogenic characteristics were confirmed in ALS brain and were mitigated with antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) therapeutics to the C9ORF72 transcript or repeat expansion despite the presence of repeat-associated non-ATG translation (RAN) products. These data indicate a toxic RNA gain-of-function mechanism as a cause of C9ORF72 ALS and provide candidate antisense therapeutics and candidate human pharmacodynamic markers for therapy. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small RNAs that regulate gene expression posttranscriptionally. To block all miRNA formation in zebrafish, we generated maternal-zygotic dicer (MZdicer) mutants that disrupt the Dicer ribonuclease III and double-stranded RNA-binding domains. Mutant embryos do not process precursor miRNAs into mature miRNAs, but injection of preprocessed miRNAs restores gene silencing, indicating that the disrupted domains are dispensable for later steps in silencing. MZdicer mutants undergo axis formation and differentiate multiple cell types but display abnormal morphogenesis during gastrulation, brain formation, somitogenesis, and heart development. Injection of miR-430 miRNAs rescues the brain defects in MZdicer mutants, revealing essential roles for miRNAs during morphogenesis.