Showing papers by "Jin Wang published in 2009"
TL;DR: The results indicate that Solexa sequencing allows the successful discovery of novel miRNAs from amphioxus with high accuracy and efficiency and provides an opportunity to decipher how the elaboration of the miRNA repertoire that occurred during chordate evolution contributed to the evolution of the vertebrate body plan.
Abstract: microRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. While the number of known human and murine miRNAs is continuously increasing, information regarding miRNAs from other species such as amphioxus remains limited. We combined Solexa sequencing with computational techniques to identify novel miRNAs in the amphioxus species B. belcheri (Gray). This approach allowed us to identify 113 amphioxus miRNA genes. Among them, 55 were conserved across species and encoded 45 non-redundant mature miRNAs, whereas 58 were amphioxus-specific and encoded 53 mature miRNAs. Validation of our results with microarray and stem-loop quantitative RT-PCR revealed that Solexa sequencing is a powerful tool for miRNA discovery. Analyzing the evolutionary history of amphioxus miRNAs, we found that amphioxus possesses many miRNAs unique to chordates and vertebrates, and these may thus represent key steps in the evolutionary progression from cephalochordates to vertebrates. We also found that amphioxus is more similar to vertebrates than are tunicates with respect to their miRNA phylogenetic histories. Taken together, our results indicate that Solexa sequencing allows the successful discovery of novel miRNAs from amphioxus with high accuracy and efficiency. More importantly, our study provides an opportunity to decipher how the elaboration of the miRNA repertoire that occurred during chordate evolution contributed to the evolution of the vertebrate body plan.
146 citations
TL;DR: It is found, for the first time, that the repression of UCP2 expression in cardiac and skeletal muscle resulted from its targeting by a muscle-specific microRNA, miR-133a, which illustrates a novel function of U CP2 as a brake for muscle development.
77 citations
TL;DR: In this study, mouse FADD containing DD domain and C-terminal region, designated as C-FADD, was expressed in E. coli with His-tag at the N-terminus and purified by Ni2+ affinity chromatography and demonstrated that the purified C- FADD possessed the CK Iα-binding activity which was important for its non-apoptotic function.
Abstract: FADD is an important proapoptotic adaptor in death receptor-induced apoptosis. Recently, FADD has been found to participate in a variety of non-apoptotic processes, such as development, cell cycle progression and survival. Its non-apoptotic activities were regulated by the phosphorylated status of the serine residue located at the C-terminal region, a domain distinct from the proapoptotic function related DED and DD domains. However, due to the difficulties in expression and crystallization of natural FADD, by far the molecular structures of all FADD variants did not contain the C-terminal region. To elucidate the structure-function relationship of C-terminal region, we need to obtain an FADD variant that containing C-terminal region. In this study, mouse FADD (80-205) containing DD domain and C-terminal region, designated as C-FADD, was expressed in E. coli with His-tag at the N-terminus and purified by Ni2+ affinity chromatography. The purified protein existed as a homogenous monomer in glutaraldehyde cross-linking analysis and exhibited a typical α-helix spectrum in CD (circular dichroism) assay. In vitro His-tag pull-down assay demonstrated that the purified C-FADD possessed the CK Iα-binding activity which was important for its non-apoptotic function.
8 citations