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Full-Text Articles in Molecular Biology
Micrornas And Developmental Timing, Victor Ambros
Micrornas And Developmental Timing, Victor Ambros
Victor R. Ambros
MicroRNAs regulate temporal transitions in gene expression associated with cell fate progression and differentiation throughout animal development. Genetic analysis of developmental timing in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans identified two evolutionarily conserved microRNAs, lin-4/mir-125 and let-7, that regulate cell fate progression and differentiation in C. elegans cell lineages. MicroRNAs perform analogous developmental timing functions in other animals, including mammals. By regulating cell fate choices and transitions between pluripotency and differentiation, microRNAs help to orchestrate developmental events throughout the developing animal, and to play tissue homeostasis roles important for disease, including cancer.
Effect Of Life History On Microrna Expression During C. Elegans Development, Xantha Karp, Molly Hammell, Maria C. Ow, Victor R. Ambros
Effect Of Life History On Microrna Expression During C. Elegans Development, Xantha Karp, Molly Hammell, Maria C. Ow, Victor R. Ambros
Victor R. Ambros
Animals have evolved mechanisms to ensure the robustness of developmental outcomes to changing environments. MicroRNA expression may contribute to developmental robustness because microRNAs are key post-transcriptional regulators of developmental gene expression and can affect the expression of multiple target genes. Caenorhabditis elegans provides an excellent model to study developmental responses to environmental conditions. In favorable environments, C. elegans larvae develop rapidly and continuously through four larval stages. In contrast, in unfavorable conditions, larval development may be interrupted at either of two diapause stages: The L1 diapause occurs when embryos hatch in the absence of food, and the dauer diapause occurs …