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Effects of Dicer and Argonaute down-regulation on mRNA levels in human HEK293 cells.

ABSTRACT: RNA interference and the microRNA (miRNA) pathway can induce sequence-specific mRNA degradation and/or translational repression. The human genome encodes hundreds of miRNAs that can post-transcriptionally repress thousands of genes. Using reporter constructs, we observed that degradation of mRNAs bearing sites imperfectly complementary to the endogenous let-7 miRNA is considerably stronger in human HEK293 than HeLa cells. The degradation did not result from the Ago2-mediated endonucleolytic cleavage but it was Dicer- and Ago2-dependent. We used this feature of HEK293 to address the size of a pool of transcripts regulated by RNA silencing in a single cell type. We generated HEK293 cell lines depleted of Dicer or individual Ago proteins. The cell lines were used for microarray analyses to obtain a comprehensive picture of RNA silencing. The 3'-untranslated region sequences of a few hundred transcripts that were commonly up-regulated upon Ago2 and Dicer knock-downs showed a significant enrichment of putative miRNA-binding sites. The up-regulation upon Ago2 and Dicer knock-downs was moderate and we found no evidence, at the mRNA level, for activation of silenced genes. Taken together, our data suggest that, independent of the effect on translation, miRNAs affect levels of a few hundred mRNAs in HEK293 cells.

SUBMITTER: Schmitter D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1635286 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundDicer is a 219-kDa protein that plays key roles in gene regulation, particularly as the ribonuclease III enzyme responsible for cleaving precursor miRNA substrates. Its enzymatic activity is highly regulated by protein factors, and this regulation can impact on the levels of miRNAs and modulate the behavior of a cell. To better understand the underlying mechanisms of regulation, detailed enzymatic and structural characterization of Dicer are needed. However, these types of studies generally require several milligrams of recombinant protein, and efficient preparation of such quantities of pure human Dicer remains a challenge. To prepare large quantities of human Dicer, we have optimized transfection in HEK293-6E cells grown in suspension and streamlined a purification procedure.ResultsTransfection conditions were first optimized to achieve expression levels between 10 and 18?mg of recombinant Dicer per liter of culture. A three-step purification protocol was then developed that yields 4-9?mg of purified Dicer per liter of culture in a single day. From SEC-MALS/RI analysis and negative stain TEM, we confirmed that the purified protein is monomerically pure ( ? 98%) and folds with the characteristic L-shape geometry. Using an electrophoretic mobility shift assay, a dissociation constant (Kd) of 5?nM was measured for Dicer binding to pre-let-7a-1, in agreement with previous reports. However, when probing the cleavage activity of Dicer for pre-let-7a-1, we measured kcat (7.2?±?0.5?min-?1) and KM (1.2?±?0.3??M) values that are much higher than previously reported due to experimental conditions that better respect the steady-state assumption.ConclusionsThe expression and purification protocols described here provide high yields of monomerically pure and active human Dicer. Cleavage studies of a pre-let-7 substrate with this purified Dicer reveal higher kcat and KM values than previously reported and support the current view that conformational changes are associated with substrate binding. Large quantities of highly pure Dicer will be valuable for future biochemical, biophysical and structural investigations of this key protein of the miRNA pathway.

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Effects of Dicer and Argonaute down-regulation on mRNA levels in human HEK293 cells.

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