Assessment of the preserved miRNA-mRNA pairs existence within rat neuronal ribonucleoprotein granules

Abstract

So far research has traditionally identified a negative correlation between miRNA and its respective mRNA targets. However, recent research has stated that some neuronal miRNA don’t correlate negatively with their targets but, instead, keep them not only from degradation but also from translation. Most of this mRNA targets code for proteins related to synaptic activity, which within the neuronal specific activity and physiology, leads to consider new gene regulation processes. Neurons are in a constant activity, requiring great plasticity and adaptability to different stimuli. Thus, it is plausible to consider a possible mRNA transportation through the large processes and storage within neuronal subdomains -such as the synapses- for further rapid and efficient in situ translation when needed. In this project we focused on the localization of this hypothetic mRNA reservoirs and, specifically, the ribonucleoproteins granules containing these kept mRNA. Single molecule imaging of the mRNA-miRNA pair has also been performed for the specific case of the NSG1 gene. All of this serves as a preliminary work in order to set the conditions for further experiments, leading to a final project where a combined FISH-Immunofluorescence should be able to detect if, indeed, granules containing miRNA-mRNA pairs are localized within synaptic regions. Understanding these processes in both healthy and pathological cells is crucial for further research on neurological diseases.