Imprinted microRNA genes transcribed antisense to a reciprocally imprinted retrotransposon-like gene

Hervé Seitz (1) , Neil Youngson (2) , Shau-Ping Lin (2) , Simone Dalbert (3) , Martina Paulsen (3) , Jean-Pierre Bachellerie (1) , Anne Ferguson-Smith (3) , Jérôme Cavaillé (1)

1 LBME - Laboratoire de biologie moléculaire eucaryote
2 CAM - University of Cambridge [UK]
3 Universität des Saarlandes [Saarbrücken]

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are an abundant class of RNAs that are ∼21–25 nucleotides (nt) long, interact with mRNAs and trigger either translation repression or RNA cleavage (RNA interference, RNAi) depending on the degree of complementarity with their targets. Here we show that the imprinted mouse distal chromosome 12 locus encodes two miRNA genes expressed from the maternally inherited chromosome and antisense to a retrotransposon-like gene (Rtl1) expressed only from the paternal allele.

Domaines: Biochimie, Biologie Moléculaire

Hervé Seitz, Neil Youngson, Shau-Ping Lin, Simone Dalbert, Martina Paulsen, et al.. Imprinted microRNA genes transcribed antisense to a reciprocally imprinted retrotransposon-like gene. Nature Genetics, 2003, 3 (3), pp.261-2. ⟨10.1038/ng1171⟩. ⟨hal-00022443⟩