Alternative titles; symbols
HGNC Approved Gene Symbol: MIR376B
Cytogenetic location: 14q32.31 Genomic coordinates (GRCh38): 14:101,040,436-101,040,535 (from NCBI)
MicroRNAs (miRNAs), such as MIR376B, regulate many developmental and cellular processes. After incorporation into the RNA-induced silencing complex, miRNAs guide the RNA interference machinery to their target genes by forming RNA duplexes, resulting in sequence-specific mRNA degradation or translational repression. MIR376B is 1 of several miRNAs located within the MIR376 cluster on chromosome 14 (Kawahara et al., 2007).
Kawahara et al. (2007) noted that expression of MIR376 RNAs had been detected in placenta, developing embryos, and adult tissues. They found that all MIR376 cluster members, including MIRB1, MIRB2, MIR368 (MIR376C; 610983), MIR376A2 (610960), MIR376B, and MIR376A1 (610959), were transcribed into a long primary transcript encompassing the entire region. MIRB1 and MIRB2 did not appear to contain mature miRNA sequences.
Kawahara et al. (2007) stated that the MIR376 gene cluster, which includes MIR376B, is located on human chromosome 14 and a syntenic region on the distal end of mouse chromosome 12.
Gross (2014) mapped the MIR376B gene to chromosome 14q32.31 based on an alignment of the MIR376B sequence (GenBank NR_030157) with the genomic sequence (GRCh37).
Kawahara et al. (2007) found that all of the MIR376 cluster members except MIRB1 underwent extensive and simultaneous adenosine-to-inosine (A-I) editing at 1 or both of 2 specific sites (+4 and +44) in select tissues and specific subregions of brain. The A-I editing led to predominant expression of edited MIR376 isoform RNAs. Certain MIR376 members, such as pri-MIR376A2, pri-MIR376B, and pri-MIR368, were nearly 100% edited at the +44 site in human cortex and medulla, whereas no editing was detected in other tissues (e.g., the +4 site of human pri-MIR376A1 in liver and the +44 site of mouse pri-Mir376a in all tissues). Both of the major editing sites in pri-MIR376 RNAs (+4 and +44) were located within the 5-prime-proximal seed sequences of the mature MIR376-5p and MIR376-3p miRNAs, which are critical for hybridization to miRNA targets, suggesting that edited mature MIR376 RNAs may target genes different from those targeted by the unedited MIR376 RNAs. The results suggested that a single A-I base change is sufficient to redirect silencing miRNAs to a new set of targets.
Gross, M. B. Personal Communication. Baltimore, Md. 5/15/2014.
Kawahara, Y., Zinshteyn, B., Sethupathy, P., Iizasa, H., Hatzigeorgiou, A. G., Nishikura, K. Redirection of silencing targets by adenosine-to-inosine editing of miRNAs. Science 315: 1137-1140, 2007. [PubMed: 17322061] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1138050]