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| A microRNA controlling left/right neuronal asymmetry in Caenorhabditis elegans |
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| Author(s): Johnston RJ, Hobert O |
| Source: NATURE Volume: 426 Issue: 6968 Pages: 845-849 Published: DEC 18 2003 |
| Times Cited: 285 References: 22 |
| Abstract: How left/right functional asymmetry is layered on top of an anatomically symmetrical nervous system is poorly understood. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, two morphologically bilateral taste receptor neurons, ASE left (ASEL) and ASE right (ASER), display a left/right asymmetrical expression pattern of putative chemoreceptor genes that correlates with a diversification of chemosensory specificities(1,2). Here we show that a previously undefined microRNA termed lsy-6 controls this neuronal left/right asymmetry of chemosensory receptor expression. lsy-6 mutants that we retrieved from a genetic screen for defects in neuronal left/right asymmetry display a loss of the ASEL-specific chemoreceptor expression profile with a concomitant gain of the ASER-specific profile. Alsy-6 reporter gene construct is expressed in less than ten neurons including ASEL, but not ASER. lsy-6 exerts its effects on ASEL through repression of cog-1, an Nkx-type homeobox gene, which contains a lsy-6 complementary site in its 30 untranslated region and that has been shown to control ASE-specific chemoreceptor expression profiles(3). lsy-6 is the first microRNA to our knowledge with a role in neuronal patterning, providing new insights into left/right axis formation. |
| Document Type: Article |
| Language: English |
| Reprint Address: Hobert, O (reprint author), Columbia Univ Coll Phys & Surg, Dept Biochem & Mol Biophys, Ctr Neurobiol & Behav, 701 W 168th St, New York, NY 10032 USA |
Addresses:
1. Columbia Univ Coll Phys & Surg, Dept Biochem & Mol Biophys, Ctr Neurobiol & Behav, New York, NY 10032 USA |
| Publisher: NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP, MACMILLAN BUILDING, 4 CRINAN ST, LONDON N1 9XW, ENGLAND |
| Subject Category: Multidisciplinary Sciences |
| IDS Number: 754QM |
| ISSN: 0028-0836 |
| DOI: 10.1038/nature02255 |
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