The Influence of MicroRNAs on Mitochondrial Calcium

Carolina Jaquenod De Giusti; Barbara Roman; Samarjit Das

doi:10.3389/fphys.2018.01291

The Influence of MicroRNAs on Mitochondrial Calcium

Front Physiol. 2018 Sep 21:9:1291. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2018.01291. eCollection 2018.

Authors

Carolina Jaquenod De Giusti¹, Barbara Roman², Samarjit Das²

Affiliations

¹ Centro de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares CIC-CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina.
² Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States.

Abstract

Abnormal mitochondrial calcium ([Ca²⁺]_m) handling and energy deficiency results in cellular dysfunction and cell death. Recent studies suggest that nuclear-encoded microRNAs (miRNA) are able to translocate in to the mitochondrial compartment, and modulate mitochondrial activities, including [Ca²⁺]_m uptake. Apart from this subset of miRNAs, there are several miRNAs that have been reported to target genes that play a role in maintaining [Ca²⁺]_m levels in the cytoplasm. It is imperative to validate miRNAs that alter [Ca²⁺]_m handling, and thereby alter cellular fate. The focus of this review is to highlight the mitochondrial miRNAs (MitomiRs), and other cytosolic miRNAs that target mRNAs which play an important role in [Ca²⁺]_m handling.

Keywords: MitomiR; heart failure; miRNA; microRNA; mitochondria; mitochondrial calcium.

Publication types

Review