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Content archived on 2024-05-29

MicroRNAs Transcription and Activity (MicroTrac)

Objective

The intergenic DNA of many eukaryotic genomes encodes self-complementary RNA molecules whose final processed forms, by the RNaseIII Dicer, are 20-24nt-long RNAs resembling the short-interfering (si)RNA that mediate experimental RNAi. These micro RNAs (miRN As) are partially or fully complementary to cellular transcripts, which they regulate at the translational or stability level. In plants and animals, miRNAs are implicated in an ever-growing number of essential biological processes, yet our knowledge of the most basic aspects of their biology is still in its infancy. How, when and where are miRNA transcribed? What is the basis for their tissue-specific expression? What are the molecular and structural features that guide their processing by Dicer? How do they pair to their target and what cellular machineries account for their repressive activities? What is the function of the large multigene families that are often controlled by miRNAs? The proposed project will address some of those fundamental questions in the model plant species Arabidopsis thaliana.

We will use tools and technologies available in the host laboratory to investigate the biology of miR171, directing the endonucleolytic cleavage of the Scarecrow-like 6 (SCL6) family of putative transcription factors. Complementary forward genetics screens for mutants compromised in miR171 transcription and mediated cleavage will be carried out using a unique set of GFP transgenic plants that accurately report each of the two activities. The promoter of the mi R171 gene will be dissected and cis-elements that account for its activity and exquisite tissue-specificity will be identified. These will be used to isolate, through gel-shift assays and yeast-one hybrid screens, the plant factors that bind to the miR171 promoter. Finally we will analyse the transcriptional profiling of plants that constitutively over-express miR171, in order to determine the biological function and cellular targets of the SCL6 gene family.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

Keywords

Topic(s)

Call for proposal

FP6-2004-MOBILITY-5
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

EIF - Marie Curie actions-Intra-European Fellowships

Coordinator

CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE
EU contribution
No data
Total cost
No data