Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Subscribe

Logo for

Science 326 (5959): 1494-1495

Copyright © 2009 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Medicine

A Reinnervating MicroRNA

Robert H. Brown

MicroRNAs are small noncoding RNAs (~22 nucleotides in length) that negatively regulate gene expression at the posttranscriptional level by binding to the 3'-untranslated region of target RNAs. Over the past 15 years, critical roles for microRNA have been established in regulating cell proliferation, differentiation and development, and death (1). Recent investigations have implicated microRNA networks in diverse disorders, such as cancer and cardiac disease. On page 1549 in this issue, Williams et al. (2) define a role for a microRNA (miR-206) in reinnervating the neuromuscular junction after injury and improving survival in a mouse model of the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The findings provide insight into the molecular basis of neuromuscular junction plasticity in the adult and also into determinants of rates of disease progression in motor neuron disease.

Neurology, Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology and Program in Neuroscience, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Avenue North, Worcester, MA 01655, USA.

E-mail: robert.brown{at}umassmed.edu

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Pathway Analysis Shows Association between FGFBP1 and Hypertension.
M. Tomaszewski, F. J. Charchar, C. P. Nelson, T. Barnes, M. Denniff, M. Kaiser, R. Debiec, P. Christofidou, S. Rafelt, P. van der Harst, et al. (2011)
J. Am. Soc. Nephrol. 22, 947-955
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »

To Advertise     Find Products

Science Signaling. ISSN 1937-9145 (online), 1945-0877 (print). Pre-2008: Science's STKE. ISSN 1525-8882