MicroRNAs and exercise-induced skeletal muscle adaptations.

摘要

MicroRNAs (miRNA) are small non-coding RNAs that function as post-transcriptional repressors of gene expression. MicroRNAs silence mRNA translation by direct repression and/or mRNA decay, ultimately influencing protein abundance. However, a single miRNA can target multiple genes; likewise, multiple miRNAs can impact a single transcript, complicating a relatively simple process. MicroRNA research is likely to be clinically relevant since miRNAs regulate nearly two-thirds, if not all, of the mammalian genome (Friedman et al. 2009), highlighting miRNAs as a novel target to manipulate gene expression and perhaps control disease. Since the discovery of miRNAs in 1993 in C. elegans (Lee et al. 1993), interest in miRNA biology has been on the rise. A quick search on Pubmed indicates that ~90.00 articles have been published in this area prior to mid-2010, with a peak increase in 2009. The miRNA research in human skeletal muscle is incredibly limited and that involving exercise is nearly non-existent.