In silico analysis of maize and wheat miRNAs as potential regulators of human gene expression

Abstract

Background: Human consumption of food and herbal medicines supplies the body with not only nutrients but also associated biologically active compounds, such as exogenic messenger RNA (mRNA) inhibitory RNAs (miRNAs). Therefore, it seems important to establish which maize and wheat miRNAs can enter the human body and evaluate their possible actions and binding features with human mRNA genes. It is required to determine whether the most common plant miRNAs can interact with human genes and what consequences this interaction may have. Methods: The quantitative parameters of interactions of plant miRNAs with candidate human mRNA genes were determined using the MirTarget software, which defines the following features of plant miRNA binding to mRNA: the location of plant miRNA binding sites (BSs) in mRNA; the localization of the plant miRNA BSs in the 5'-untranslated region (5'UTR), coding domain sequence (CDS), and 3'-untranslated region (3'UTR) of the mRNAs; the free energy of interactions between plant miRNA and mRNA, and nucleotide interaction schemes between plant miRNAs and mRNAs. Results: The miRNAs from maize and wheat might have effective BSs in the mRNA of human genes. Some miRNAs have potential to bind to the mRNAs of one or more human genes. Important features of the interaction of plant miRNAs and mRNA nucleotides at the 5-and 3-ends of BSs were revealed, indicating that the interactions of these molecules are conserved. As a result, in order to use identified wheat and maize miRNAs in medicine, experimental validation in combination with our in silico studies will be beneficial to understand the impact of these miRNAs on changes in human gene expression levels. Conclusions: Plant miRNAs include miRNAs that are most actively involved in plant growth and development. The target genes of most plant miRNAs interact with human genes involved cancer development, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and autism. The miRNAs of maize and wheat can be used as regulators of expression of many processes in the human body.