Physiological Roles of MicroRNAs in Stress Response

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  • Kuwano Yuki
    Department of Pathophysiology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences Tokushima University Graduate School

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  • ストレス応答性マイクロRNAを介した遺伝子発現調節
  • ストレス オウトウセイ マイクロ RNA オ カイシタ イデンシ ハツゲン チョウセツ

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Increasing evidences have suggested that the non-protein-coding genome is functionally important for regulation of cellular processes. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs approximately 22 nucleotides in length. They bind to partially complementary sites within the 3’UTR of target mRNAs and inhibit their translation. More than 2,000 miRNAs are discovered in human cells, and sufficiently expressed miRNAs typically target hundreds of different mRNAs. The important roles of miRNAs are to control and maintain normal physiological functioning of the central nervous system, including neuron maturation, neurogenesis, and synaptic plasticity. Various stressors influence the processing of miRNA, recognition of mRNA targets, and miRNA expression. Recent papers have reported that miRNAs play an essential role in regulation of stress response. Interestingly, experimental animals with mutant miRNAs appear to normally develop, while they cannot cope with stressful conditions. Both acute and chronic stressors change miRNA expression profiles in a brain region-dependent fashion and changes in miRNA expression. We previously investigated that psychological stress-related changes in miRNA expression were also detectable in peripheral tissues, such as peripheral blood leukocytes. Taken together, the stress-mediated miRNA response may activate a program of gene expression that is essential for the production of adaptive response to the stressor.

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