microRNA-24a is required to repress apoptosis in the developing neural retina (original) (raw)

1. James C. Walker and
2. Richard M. Harland,1
3. Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Center for Integrative Genomics, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

Abstract

Programmed cell death is important for the proper development of the retina, and microRNAs (miRNAs) may be critical for its regulation. Here, we report that miR-24a is expressed in the neural retina and is required for correct eye morphogenesis in Xenopus. Inhibition of miR-24a during development causes a reduction in eye size due to a significant increase in apoptosis in the retina, whereas overexpression of miR-24a is sufficient to prevent apoptosis. We show that miR-24a negatively regulates the proapoptotic factors caspase9 and apaf1, demonstrating a role for miRNAs in the regulation of apoptosis during normal development.

• microRNAs
• miR-24a
• apoptosis
• caspase9
• apaf1

Footnotes

• 1
  ↵1 Corresponding author.
  ↵E-MAIL Harland{at}berkeley.edu; FAX (510) 643-1729.

• Article published online ahead of print. Article and publication date are online at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.1777709.

• Supplemental material is available at http://www.genesdev.org.

• • Received January 3, 2009.
  • Accepted March 24, 2009.

• Copyright © 2009 by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

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