MicroRNA regulation of bursicon and its receptors

MicroRNA regulation of bursicon and its receptors Xi Chen, Shengzhang Dong, Hongwei Zhang and Qisheng Song Division of Plant Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211 USA In Drosophila melanogaster, heterodimer neuropeptide bursicon mediates the tanning (melanizing and sclerotizing) process immediately after molting via a specific G-protein coupled receptor DLGR2. From previous study in our lab, bursicon subunits also form homodimers and homodimers mediate expression of genes encoding antimicrobial proteins (AMPs) by activating relish, a transcriptional factor critical for expression of many AMP genes in innate immune response. However, the regulation of bursicon and its receptors remains unknown. We hypothesize that miRNAs are involved in the regulation of bursicon and its receptors. MiRNAs are about 22 nucleotides noncoding RNAs, acting as post-transcriptional repressors by base-pairing to the 3´- untranslated region (UTR) of their target mRNAs. Using algorithm miRanda, we predicted miRNAs targeting to bursicon and receptor genes and investigated their roles in regulating their target genes.