《生命科学》 2011, 23(4): 364-368

let-7 microRNA调控动物器官发育的研究进展

王　虹，滕鸿琦，施珏平，张彦定，张明凤^*

(福建省发育与神经生物学重点实验室，福建师范大学生命科学学院，福州 350108)

摘　要：摘　要：微小RNA (microRNA， miRNA)是一类在进化上高度保守、长度约 20~24 nt的小分子非编码RNA，能通过与靶基因3′非翻译区相结合从而抑制靶基因的翻译或降解靶基因。let-7 microRNA是发现较早的一类miRNA，最早在线虫中发现能调控细胞分裂的时序。此后大量证据表明，let-7参与动物多个器官发育的调控过程，并与人类疾病发生密切相关。该文综述了近年来let-7调控动物脑、神经及心肺系统等器官发育的研究成果，初步阐述了let-7调控动物器官发育可能的作用机制，以期为深入研究let-7的功能奠定基础。
关键词：microRNA； let-7； 器官发育； 调控机制

Progress of  animal organs development regulated by let-7 microRNA

WANG Hong， TENG Hong-Qi， SHI Jue-Ping， ZHANG Yan-Ding， ZHANG Ming-Feng^*

(Fujian Key Laboratory of Developmental and Neurobiology， College of Life Sciences， Fujian Normal University， Fuzhou 350108， China)

Abstract: Abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs， about 20~24 nucleotides in length. They can inhibit target genes translation or degrade them directly through combination with the complementary sequences in the 3′-UTRs of target mRNAs. The let-7 miRNAs were originally found in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans， where they mainly regulated the timing of cell division. Increasing evidences indicate that let-7 miRNAs are associated with animal organs development and human diseases. This review summarized the recent progresses about the function of let-7 miRNAs in the development of brain， neuron， lung and cardiovascular system. Meanwhile， we elucidated the possible mechanism of let-7 miRNAs regulating the developmental processes of animal organs that might provide the basis for further illustrating the function of let-7 miRNAs.
Key words: microRNA; let-7; organ development; regulation mechanism