Shrayana Ghosh, Amity University Kolkata
Recently a mechanism has been determined by which microRNAs can be degraded by cells. This was discovered by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center. The information sheds light on the working of cells and how that can be used to establish a new way to combat infectious diseases and cancer.
In cells, the genes contain instructions that regulate the production of proteins in the body. However, various other processes are also so involved that the amounts of proteins produced is managed efficiently .
One such mechanism involves the use of miRNAs which are small genetic materials and are involved in the breaking of messenger RNA in cells thus preventing the mRNA to be translated to proteins.
Thus, the mechanism can target as well as control the production and maturation of proteins that can lead to diseases. Hence understanding the working of miRNA can prove to be effective to decrease protein production from their targeted mRNAs.
Mendell Hans and his colleagues used the renowned gene-editing tool, CRISPR-Cas9 to explore the functions by cutting out the genes individually. It was found that the proteins encoded by the genes in the human cancer cell line, K562, formed a larger assembly known as the ubiquitin ligase whose function is to mark other proteins that are destined to be degraded. This complex tags a protein called Argonaute which transports miRNAs through cells. The Argonaute on attaching with the miRNA marks it for degradation. The miRNA IA left naked in the cell triggers the cell to use RNA-degrading enzymes to destroy the miRNA.
The ubiquitin ligase complex leading to the destruction of miRNA not only takes place in K562 cells but also in a variety of cell types and species.
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Source-
“A ubiquitin ligase mediates target-directed microRNA decay independently of tailing and trimming” Science (2020).
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