MicroRNA regulation and interspecific variation of gene expression

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) modulate expression of their target genes in various tissues and at different developmental stages, but it is unclear whether they drive cross-species variation in gene expression. By comparing data from mammal and fly species we found that the cross-species expression variation o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Trends in genetics 2007-08, Vol.23 (8), p.372-375
Main Authors: Cui, Qinghua, Yu, Zhenbao, Purisima, Enrico O, Wang, Edwin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Evolution, Molecular
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gene Expression Regulation
Genetic Variation
Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution
Humans
Medical Education
MicroRNAs - metabolism
Molecular and cellular biology
Species Specificity
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Summary:MicroRNAs (miRNAs) modulate expression of their target genes in various tissues and at different developmental stages, but it is unclear whether they drive cross-species variation in gene expression. By comparing data from mammal and fly species we found that the cross-species expression variation of miRNA targets is significantly lower than that of other genes. This implies that miRNAs can affect gene expression by reducing stochastic noise, buffering cross-species variation and constraining evolutionary gene expression variation.
ISSN:0168-9525
DOI:10.1016/j.tig.2007.04.003