This web page was produced as an assignment for Genetics 564, an undergraduate course at UW-Madison.
What is RNA interference?
RNA interference (RNAi) is an important naturally occuring pathway that is used to regulate gene expression in cells. RNAi occurs through the use of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs). Below is a video explaining how RNAi works (1).
miRNA is known to target the UTR end of mRNA so by looking into the miRBase database to see if there are any known sequences that could bind to COL5A1 mRNA, it can be better understood how this gene is regulated.
Can this be applied to the study of COL5A1?
By using the FASTA sequence for COL5A1 mRNA, I took the approximate UTR regions to determine if there were any known miRNAs that could bind to the transcript. My results showed that there were sequences that bound to the transcript, but I did not find any that bound specifically to where to SNP would be. I did find primary literature citing the existence of a miRNA that did bind to the transcript called mir-608 (2). The study suggested that this polymorphism alter the structure of the mRNA, preventing the binding of this miRNA. It would be expected that this would lead to an increase in translation of the transcript.
References
- http://www.nature.com/nrg/multimedia/rnai/animation/index.html
- Polymorphisms within the COL5A1 3'-UTR that alters mRNA structure and the MIR608 gene are associated with Achilles tendinopathy. Ann Hum Genet. 2013 May;77(3):204-14. doi: 10.1111/ahg.12013. Epub 2013 Jan 24
Website Author: Logan Silber
Contact email: [email protected]
Page last updated: 5/15/2015
Course Homepage: www.genetics564.weebly.com
Contact email: [email protected]
Page last updated: 5/15/2015
Course Homepage: www.genetics564.weebly.com