Dataset Information

Needles in the genetic haystack of lipid disorders: single nucleotide polymorphisms in the microRNA regulome.

ABSTRACT: In recent years, microRNAs (miRNA) have emerged as important posttranscriptional regulators of gene expression in a wide variety of biological pathways. Since the discovery of the liver-specific miRNA-122 (miR-122) and its critical role in hepatic function, numerous additional miRNAs have been implicated in lipid metabolism. It is now apparent that lipid homeostasis is governed in part by an intricate web of miRNA activity. miRNAs are thought to confer robustness against environmental changes, such as diet modifications. Therefore, naturally occurring genetic variation that perturbs miRNA expression and/or function is likely to contribute to interindividual variability in lipid phenotypes. Although the field is still in its infancy, this review describes the growing evidence for miRNA-related genetic variation as etiological factors in lipid disorders. Specific examples, including a variant in a miRNA transcriptional control element that leads to dyslipidemia as well as a variant in a miRNA target site that modulates the effect of diet on plasma lipid levels, are discussed. Finally, the utility of recent systems genetics approaches to uncover hidden miRNA-related genetic associations with lipid disorders are considered, thereby illuminating the needles in the genetic haystack.

SUBMITTER: Sethupathy P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3622314 | biostudies-literature | 2013 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Needles in the genetic haystack of lipid disorders: single nucleotide polymorphisms in the microRNA regulome.

Sethupathy Praveen P

Journal of lipid research 20130315 5

In recent years, microRNAs (miRNA) have emerged as important posttranscriptional regulators of gene expression in a wide variety of biological pathways. Since the discovery of the liver-specific miRNA-122 (miR-122) and its critical role in hepatic function, numerous additional miRNAs have been implicated in lipid metabolism. It is now apparent that lipid homeostasis is governed in part by an intricate web of miRNA activity. miRNAs are thought to confer robustness against environmental changes, s ...[more]

PMID: 23505316

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Project description:In the collective genomes (the metagenome) of the microorganisms inhabiting the Earth's diverse environments is written the history of life on this planet. New molecular tools developed and used for the past 15 years by microbial ecologists are facilitating the extraction, cloning, screening, and sequencing of these genomes. This approach allows microbial ecologists to access and study the full range of microbial diversity, regardless of our ability to culture organisms, and provides an unprecedented access to the breadth of natural products that these genomes encode. However, there is no way that the mere collection of sequences, no matter how expansive, can provide full coverage of the complex world of microbial metagenomes within the foreseeable future. Furthermore, although it is possible to fish out highly informative and useful genes from the sea of gene diversity in the environment, this can be a highly tedious and inefficient procedure. Microbial ecologists must be clever in their pursuit of ecologically relevant, valuable, and niche-defining genomic information within the vast haystack of microbial diversity. In this report, we seek to describe advances and prospects that will help microbial ecologists glean more knowledge from investigations into metagenomes. These include technological advances in sequencing and cloning methodologies, as well as improvements in annotation and comparative sequence analysis. More significant, however, will be ways to focus in on various subsets of the metagenome that may be of particular relevance, either by limiting the target community under study or improving the focus or speed of screening procedures. Lastly, given the cost and infrastructure necessary for large metagenome projects, and the almost inexhaustible amount of data they can produce, trends toward broader use of metagenome data across the research community coupled with the needed investment in bioinformatics infrastructure devoted to metagenomics will no doubt further increase the value of metagenomic studies in various environments.

Dataset Information

Needles in the genetic haystack of lipid disorders: single nucleotide polymorphisms in the microRNA regulome.

Publications

Needles in the genetic haystack of lipid disorders: single nucleotide polymorphisms in the microRNA regulome.

Similar Datasets

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