miR-124 controls male reproductive success in Drosophila.

Many aspects of social behavior are controlled by sex-specific pheromones. Gender-appropriate production of the sexually dimorphic transcription factors doublesex and fruitless controls sexual differentiation and sexual behavior. miR-124 mutant males exhibited increased male-male courtship and reduced reproductive success with females.

An intuitive graphical visualization technique for the interrogation of transcriptome data.

The complexity of gene expression data generated from microarrays and high-throughput sequencing make their analysis challenging. One goal of these analyses is to define sets of co-regulated genes and identify patterns of gene expression. To date, however, there is a lack of easily implemented methods that allow an investigator to visualize and interact with the data in an intuitive and flexible manner.

Drosophila microRNAs 263a/b confer robustness during development by protecting nascent sense organs from apoptosis.

miR-263a/b are members of a conserved family of microRNAs that are expressed in peripheral sense organs across the animal kingdom. Here we present evidence that miR-263a and miR-263b play a role in protecting Drosophila mechanosensory bristles from apoptosis by down-regulating the pro-apoptotic gene head involution defective. Both microRNAs are expressed in the bristle progenitors, and despite a difference in their seed sequence, they share this key common target.

Recombinase-mediated cassette exchange provides a versatile platform for gene targeting: knockout of miR-31b.

A series of vectors has been designed to enhance the versatility of targeted homologous recombination. Recombinase-mediated cassette exchange permits sequential targeting at any locus and improves flexibility in making user-defined mutations. Application of RMCE to delete an intronic microRNA gene is described.

MicroRNAs in neurodegeneration.

microRNAs (miRNAs) act as post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression in diverse cellular and developmental processes. Many miRNAs are expressed specifically in the central nervous system, where they have roles in differentiation, neuronal survival, and potentially also in plasticity and learning. The absence of miRNAs in a variety of specific postmitotic neurons can lead to progressive loss of these neurons and behavioral defects reminiscent of the phenotypes seen in the pathologies of neurodegenerative diseases.

Mei-P26 regulates microRNAs and cell growth in the Drosophila ovarian stem cell lineage.

Drosophila neuroblasts and ovarian stem cells are well characterized models for stem cell biology. In both cell types, one daughter cell self-renews continuously while the other undergoes a limited number of divisions, stops to proliferate mitotically and differentiates. Whereas neuroblasts segregate the Trim-NHL (tripartite motif and Ncl-1, HT2A and Lin-41 domain)-containing protein Brain tumour (Brat) into one of the two daughter cells, ovarian stem cells are regulated by an extracellular signal from the surrounding stem cell niche.

Temporal reciprocity of miRNAs and their targets during the maternal-to-zygotic transition in Drosophila.

During oogenesis, female animals load their eggs with messenger RNAs (mRNAs) that will be translated to produce new proteins in the developing embryo. Some of these maternally provided mRNAs are stable and continue to contribute to development long after the onset of transcription of the embryonic (zygotic) genome. However, a subset of maternal mRNAs are degraded during the transition from purely maternal to mixed maternal-zygotic gene expression.

A single Hox locus in Drosophila produces functional microRNAs from opposite DNA strands.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are approximately 22-nucleotide RNAs that are processed from characteristic precursor hairpins and pair to sites in messages of protein-coding genes to direct post-transcriptional repression. Here, we report that the miRNA iab-4 locus in the Drosophila Hox cluster is transcribed convergently from both DNA strands, giving rise to two distinct functional miRNAs. Both sense and antisense miRNA products target neighboring Hox genes via highly conserved sites, leading to homeotic transformations when ectopically expressed.

microRNA functions.

microRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that play important roles in posttranscriptional gene regulation. In animal cells, miRNAs regulate their targets by translational inhibition and mRNA destabilization. Here, we review recent work in animal models that provide insight into the diverse roles of miRNAs in vivo.

Animal MicroRNAs confer robustness to gene expression and have a significant impact on 3'UTR evolution.

MicroRNAs are small noncoding RNAs that serve as posttranscriptional regulators of gene expression in higher eukaryotes. Their widespread and important role in animals is highlighted by recent estimates that 20%-30% of all genes are microRNA targets. Here, we report that a large set of genes involved in basic cellular processes avoid microRNA regulation due to short 3'UTRs that are specifically depleted of microRNA binding sites.