Presenting Author University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
The dynamic post-translational modification of serine or threonine residues by O-linked N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosamine (O-GlcNAc) contributes to diverse cellular processes including epigenetic modifications, transcription, metabolism, and cell signaling that play significant roles in development and normal physiology. O-GlcNAcylation is catalyzed by O-GlcNAc transferase and the modification is removed by O-GlcNAcase (OGA). These genes are highly regulated at multiple levels, but little is known about their regulation by microRNAs (miRs). miRs are small non-coding RNAs that fine-tune protein expression through binding to messenger RNA (mRNA). In this work, we built a comprehensive dataset of OGT and OGA regulation via both their 3’UTR and 5’UTRs. Downregulation was almost exclusively mediated through binding to the 3’UTR. We observed independent regulation of OGT and OGA by the majority of regulatory miRs, which did not overlap. However, we did see significant co-regulation of OGT and OGA by a subset of miRs. This is in keeping with the known transcriptional regulation of these genes.
In summary, this work provides a better understanding of OGT and OGA regulation through miRNA binding via both the 3’UTR and 5’UTR regions.Keywords: miRNA, mRNA, miRFluR, OGT, OGA, co-regulation, 3’UTR, 5’UTR.
This work was supported by the Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) Program.
