Neuronal activity regulates hippocampal miRNA expression

PLoS One. 2011;6(10):e25068. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0025068. Epub 2011 Oct 3.

Abstract

Neuronal activity regulates a broad range of processes in the hippocampus, including the precise regulation of translation. Disruptions in proper translational control in the nervous system are associated with a variety of disorders that fall in the autistic spectrum. MicroRNA (miRNA) represent a relatively recently discovered player in the regulation of translation in the nervous system. We have conducted an in depth analysis of how neuronal activity regulates miRNA expression in the hippocampus. Using deep sequencing we exhaustively identify all miRNAs, including 15 novel miRNAs, expressed in hippocampus of the adult mouse. We identified 119 miRNAs documented in miRBase but less than half of these miRNA were expressed at a level greater than 0.1% of total miRNA. Expression profiling following induction of neuronal activity by electroconvulsive shock demonstrates that most miRNA show a biphasic pattern of expression: rapid induction of specific mature miRNA expression followed by a decline in expression. These results have important implications into how miRNAs influence activity-dependent translational control.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Base Sequence
  • Electroshock
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Gene Expression Regulation*
  • Gene Library
  • Genes, Immediate-Early / genetics
  • Genetic Loci / genetics
  • Genome / genetics
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
  • Hippocampus / metabolism*
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • MicroRNAs / genetics*
  • MicroRNAs / metabolism
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Neurons / metabolism*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

Substances

  • MicroRNAs