The RNA-binding protein ARPP21 controls dendritic branching by functionally opposing the miRNA it hosts.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 29581509.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-018-03681-3 and PMC identifier 5964322.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
About half of mammalian miRNA genes lie within introns of protein-coding genes, yet little is known about functional interactions between miRNAs and their host genes. The intronic miRNA miR-128 regulates neuronal excitability and dendritic morphology of principal neurons during mouse cerebral cortex development. Its conserved host genes, R3hdm1 and Arpp21, are predicted RNA-binding proteins. Here we use iCLIP to characterize ARPP21 recognition of uridine-rich sequences with high specificity for 3'UTRs. ARPP21 antagonizes miR-128 activity by co-regulating a subset of miR-128 target mRNAs enriched for neurodevelopmental functions. Protein-protein interaction data and functional assays suggest that ARPP21 acts as a positive post-transcriptional regulator by interacting with the translation initiation complex eIF4F. This molecular antagonism is reflected in inverse activities during dendritogenesis: miR-128 overexpression or knockdown of ARPP21 reduces dendritic complexity; ectopic ARPP21 leads to an increase. Thus, we describe a unique example of convergent function by two products of a single gene.
Medical subject headings
- Dendrites
- MicroRNAs
- Phosphoproteins
- RNA-Binding Proteins