Lim DH, Lee S, Han JY, Choi MS, Hong JS, Lee YS. MicroRNA
miR-252 targets mbt to control the developmental growth of Drosophila.
Insect Mol Biol 2019;
28:444-454. [PMID:
30582233 DOI:
10.1111/imb.12562]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Developmental growth is an intricate process involving the coordinated regulation of the expression of various genes, and microRNAs (miRNAs) play crucial roles in diverse processes throughout animal development. The ecdysone-responsive miRNA, miR-252, is normally upregulated during the pupal and adult stages of Drosophila development. Here, we found that overexpression of miR-252 in the larval fat body decreased total tissue mass through a reduction in both cell size and cell number, causing a concomitant decrease in larval size. Furthermore, miR-252 overexpression led to a delayed larval-to-pupal transition with defective anterior spiracle eversion, as well as a decrease in adult size and mass. Conversely, adult flies lacking miR-252 showed an increase in mass compared with control flies. We found that miR-252 directly targeted mbt, encoding a p21-activated kinase, to repress its expression. Notably, co-overexpression of mbt rescued the developmental and growth defects associated with miR-252 overexpression, indicating that mbt is a biologically relevant target of miR-252. Overall, our data support a role for the ecdysone/miR-252/mbt regulatory axis in growth control during Drosophila development.
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