Neurons are highly polarized cells that possess dendrites and axons. Some mRNAs are known to traffic to axons for local protein synthesis in response to rapid extracellular signals that are involved in neuronal differentiation, synapse formation and axon growth during neuronal development. As post-transcriptional regulators, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been emerging as central players in the development and maturation of the nervous system. Recent studies have revealed the critical functions of miRNAs in the axon of neurons via multiple pathways of molecular regulation.
This work entitled “Axonal miRNAs: Localization, Function and Regulatory Mechanisms during Axon Development” was published online in Journal of Molecular Cell Biology on Dec 8, 2016. This work was completed by Dr. Bin Wang, under the supervision of Prof. BAO Lan at the Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. In this review paper, they mainly summarize methods for compartmental system of neurons and discuss the recent discovery of the function and regulatory mechanism for axonal miRNAs during axon development.
Prof. BAO Lan’s lab focuses on the function and regulatory mechanism of non-coding RNAs in neurons. Recent work reveals that FMRP-mediated axonal delivery of miR-181d regulates axon elongation by locally targeting Map1b and Calm1 (Cell Report, 2015). This study was supported by the grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Basic Research Program of China, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, Postdoctoral Foundation from Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences and Shanghai Postdoctoral Science Foundation.
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Prof. BAO Lan, Principal Investigator
Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shanghai, China
Phone: 86-21-54921369;
E-mail: baolan@sibcb.ac.cn
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