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4 - MicroRNAs: A small contribution from worms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2009

By
Amy E. Pasquinelli
Edited by
Krishnarao Appasani
Foreword by
Andrew Fire  and
Marshall Nirenberg
Amy E. Pasquinelli
Affiliation:
Molecular Biology Section, University of California
Krishnarao Appasani
Affiliation:
GeneExpression Systems, Inc., Massachusetts
Andrew Fire
Affiliation:
Stanford University, California
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Summary

Introduction

The 2002 Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to Sydney Brenner, Robert Horvitz and John Sulston for their seminal work in establishing the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model genetic organism for studying development and behavior. One of the most sensational discoveries to emerge from C. elegans is the identification of tiny, non-coding RNA genes that regulate development. The original report of a 22 nucleotide (nt) RNA essential for controlling temporal patterning in the worm was unprecedented. Seven years passed before another 22-nt RNA gene was found, once again through genetic studies of developmental timing in C. elegans. This second tiny RNA gene turned out not to be a worm oddity, but instead it was shown to be expressed in most animal species. Thus, the general existence of 22-nt RNA genes was established and the hunt for additional RNAs of this type intensified. Hundreds of ∼22-nt RNA genes have now been uncovered in plants and animals. It is not a coincidence that the tiny size of these endogenous RNAs, called microRNAs (miRNAs), is similar to that of the small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) that direct RNA interference (RNAi); common cellular factors and mechanisms participate in the expression and function of these ∼22-nt RNAs. This chapter focuses on how the discovery of 22-nt RNA genes in C. elegans revealed the broad existence of miRNAs and how the regulation of gene expression by miRNAs compares to RNAi.

Type
Chapter
Information
RNA Interference Technology
From Basic Science to Drug Development
 , pp. 69 - 83
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2005

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References

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