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miR-488 determines coat pigmentation by down-regulating the pigment-producing gene pro-opiomelanocortin
Corresponding Author(s) : C. Dong
13623541993@163.com
Cellular and Molecular Biology,
Vol. 62 No. 12: Issue 12
Abstract
Coat color is a key economic trait in wool- and fur-producing animals. Coat color is controlled by complex mechanisms. Pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) is a gene involved in pigment formation. Previous studies suggested that miR-488 might target the POMC mRNA. This study aimed to determine whether miR-488 could affect coat color by regulating POMC and to explore the regulatory roles of miR-488 on coat color in mammals. A dual fluorescence report vector containing the 3'-UTR of POMC was built to determine whether miR-488 could post-transcriptionally regulate POMC expression. Then, a eukaryotic vector expressing miR-488 was built and transfected into mouse keratinocytes to confirm the regulatory mechanism in vitro. Compared with gray mice, the expression of POMC mRNA was 3.36-fold higher in black mice and 1.29-fold higher in brown mice. The results showed that miR-488 could control mice coat color by combining with the 3'-UTR seed sequence of POMC mRNA to achieve the degradation of POMC mRNA, therefore playing a role in POMC expression. This study revealed the roles of miR-488 in animal coat color and enriches our knowledge about the determination of coat color in mammals.
Keywords
miR-488
pigment
POMC
cell transfection
keratinocytes
bioinformatics
coat color.
Wang, H., Ma, S., Xue, L., Li, Y., Wang, J., He, X., Zhu, Z., & Dong, C. (2016). miR-488 determines coat pigmentation by down-regulating the pigment-producing gene pro-opiomelanocortin. Cellular and Molecular Biology, 62(12), 37–43. https://doi.org/10.14715/cmb/2016.62.12.7
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