microRNAs in the Same Clusters Evolve to Coordinately Regulate Functionally Related Genes

We presented evidence that abundance of miRNAs in the same clusters were highly correlated and those miRNAs exerted cooperative repressive effects on target genes in human tissues. By transfecting miRNAs into human and fly cells and extensively profiling the transcriptome alteration with deep-sequencing, we further demonstrated the functional co-adaptation between new and old miRNAs in the miR-17–92 cluster. Our population genomic analysis suggest that positive Darwinian selection might be the driving force underlying the formation and evolution of miRNA clustering. Our model provided novel insights into mechanisms and evolutionary significance of miRNA clustering.

Source: Molecular Biology and Evolution - August 16, 2016 Category: Molecular Biology Authors: Wang, Y., Luo, J., Zhang, H., Lu, J. Tags: Discoveries Source Type: research