The sea cucumber (Apostichopus japonicus) has become a good model organism for studying environmentally induced aestivation in marine invertebrates. We hypothesized that mechanisms that arrest energy-expensive cell cycle activity would contribute significantly to establishing the hypometabolic state during aestivation. Cyclin A is a core and particularly interesting cell cycle regulator that functions in both the S phase and in mitosis. In the present study, negative relationships between miR-200-3p and AjCA expressions were detected at both the transcriptional and the translational levels during aestivation in A. japonicus. Dual-luciferase reporter assays confirmed the targeted location of the miR-200-3p binding site within the AjCA gene transcript. Furthermore, gain-and loss-of-function experiments were conducted in vivo with sea cucumbers to verify the interaction between miR-200-3p and AjCA in intestine tissue by qRT-PCR and Western blotting. The results show that the overexpression of miR-200-3p mimics suppressed AjCA transcript levels and translated protein production, whereas transfection with a miR-200-3p inhibitor enhanced both AjCA mRNA and AjCA protein in A. japonicus intestine. Our findings suggested a potential mechanism that reversibly arrests cell cycle progression during aestivation, which may center on miR-200-3p inhibitory control over the translation of cyclin A mRNA transcripts.
CITATION STYLE
Wang, S., Chen, M., Yin, Y., & Storey, K. B. (2019). MiR-200-3p is potentially involved in cell cycle arrest by regulating cyclin a during aestivation in Apostichopus japonicus. Cells, 8(8). https://doi.org/10.3390/cells8080843
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