<i>miR-9a</i> regulates levels of both <i>rhomboid</i> mRNA and protein in the early <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> embryo

Abstract

AbstractMicroRNAs can have subtle and combinatorial effects on the levels of the targets and pathways they act on. Studying the consequences of a single microRNA knockout often proves difficult as many such knockouts exhibit phenotypes only under stress conditions. This has often led to the hypothesis that microRNAs buffer the effects of intrinsic and environmental stochasticity on gene expression. Observing and understanding this buffering effect entails quantitative analysis of microRNA and target expression in single cells. To this end, we have employed single-molecule fluorescence in situ hybridization, immunofluorescence, and high-resolution confocal microscopy to investigate the effects of miR-9aDrosophila melanogasterrhomboidmiR-9amiR-9amiR-9amiR-9amiR-9arhomboidrhomboidmiR-9DrosophilamiR-9