Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2017

Erindi/veggspjald / Talk/poster E64

The role of miR-206 and its putative targets in developing Arctic charr morphs

Höfundar / Authors: Lieke Ponsioen (1), Drífa Hrund Guðmundsdóttir (2), Kalina H. Kapralova (1), Grétar Guðmundsson (1), Sigríður Rut Franzdóttir (1), Zophonías Ó. Jónsson (1)

Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: 1. Life and Environmental Sciences University of Iceland, 2. School of Health Sciences University of Iceland

Kynnir / Presenter: Lieke Ponsioen

MiR-206 is a skeletal muscle specific miRNA, which plays an important part in the developmental timing of myogenesis. In zebrafish this miRNA is expressed mainly in the developing head e.g. in jaw and eye muscles. Transcriptome data from Arctic charr suggest that miR-206 is differentially expressed in embryos of two contrasting morphologies (i.e. limnetic-like and benthic), which differ substantially in their jaw morphology. The benthic morphology has a more rounded head with a protruding lower jaw, while the limnetic morphology has a pointier head with jaws of similar length. The goal of this project is to analyse the expression of miR-206 and its putative target genes in developing Arctic charr.
Tnnc and tmyo are putative target genes of miR-206 and were identified computationally. Their expression patterns along with the expression pattern of miR-206 were studied using whole mount in situ hybridisation. MiR-206 showed similar expression patterns to the one observed in zebrafish and the putative target genes co-localised with miR-206. We are currently assessing the expression levels of the putative target genes in both benthic and limnetic morphs using qPCR. Functional analyses of miR-206 are also under way: single cell zebrafish embryos will be injected with a miR-206 inhibitor. The resulting phenotypic effects will be studied using geometric morphometrics.