Líffræðifélag Íslands
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2015

Erindi/veggspjald / Talk/poster E32

Role of miRNAs and their targets in Arctic charr morphogenesis

Kalina H. Kapralova (1, 2), Hákon Jónsson (1), Sigríður Rut Franzdóttir (1, 2), Ehsan Pashay Ahi (1), Valerie Maier (2), Arnar Palsson (1, 2), Sigurður S. Snorrason (1) and Zophonías O. Jónsson (1, 2)

1. University of Iceland-School of Engineering and Natural Sciences, 2. University of Iceland- Biomedical Center

Kynnir / Presenter: Kalina H. Kapralova

Tengiliður / Corresponding author: Kalina H. Kapralova (khk2@hi.is)

Micro-RNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in animal development. These small non-coding RNAs are involved in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Sequences of many miRNAs are highly conserved, yet they often exhibit temporal and spatial heterogeneity in expression among species and have been proposed as an important reservoir for adaptive evolution and divergence. Small RNA-sequencing analysis of four developmental time points in two contrasting Arctic charr morphologies (the small benthic charr from Thingvallavatn and a charr from the Holar aquaculture program with a limnetic like morphology) showed that 53 known and 19 novel miRNAs have significantly different levels of expression. From these, miR-199a and miR-206 were selected for further studies. Whole month insitu hybridization (WISH) of these miRNAs showed that miR-199a is expressed in the upper, lower jaw and the gill arches of developing embryos of all four Thingvallavatn morphs, whereas miR-206 is expressed in the craniofacial muscles. To gain a better understanding of the developmental processes these miRNAs are involved in, which genes they interact with and regulate, several genes including the transcription factor Ets2 were identified and validated as targets for miR-199a. We are currently in the process of setting up functional analysis in zebrafish, where selected miR-199a and selected targets will be knocked down in 1-cell embryos using morpholinos. Craniofacial phenotypes of injected and not injected embryos will be compared using geometric morphometrics.