Molecular mechanism that links a nutrient-responsive miRNA with clock genes

尽管已知microRNA（miRNA）miR-92及其旁系同源物与肿瘤发生相关，但它们的生理作用和它们发挥功能的信号通路仍有待描述。在这项研究中，我们利用线虫C. elegans和哺乳动物培养细胞中，我们发现了一些证据表明，C。线虫miR-92直向同源物、miR-235和时钟基因Period 2直向同源物lin-42相互负调节以确定祖细胞中分化的时间。另一方面，miR-92及其一种旁系同源物在培养的啮齿动物成纤维细胞中未显示振荡表达模式。

Although the microRNA (miRNA) miR-92 and its paralogues have been known to be associated with tumorigenesis, their physiological role and the signaling pathway in which they function remain to be delineated. In this study, we explored the relationship between the miR-92 family of miRNAs and the clock genes, using the nematode C. elegans and mammalian cultured cells.We found several lines of evidence suggesting that C. elegans miR-92 orthologue, miR-235 and the clock gene Period2 ortholog lin-42 negatively regulate each other to determine the timing of differentiation in progenitor cells. On the other hand, miR-92 and one of its paralogues did not show oscillatory expression pattern in cultured rodent fibroblasts.