Frontiers in Neuroscience (Mar 2021)

In silico Analysis of Polymorphisms in microRNAs Deregulated in Alzheimer Disease

  • Mahta Moraghebi,
  • Reza Maleki,
  • Mohsen Ahmadi,
  • Ahmad Agha Negahi,
  • Hossein Abbasi,
  • Pegah Mousavi,
  • Pegah Mousavi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.631852
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15

Abstract

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BackgroundAlzheimer’s disease (AD) is a degenerative condition characterized by progressive cognitive impairment and dementia. Findings have revolutionized current knowledge of miRNA in the neurological conditions. Two regulatory mechanisms determine the level of mature miRNA expression; one is miRNA precursor processing, and the other is gene expression regulation by transcription factors. This study is allocated to the in-silico investigation of miRNA’s SNPs and their effect on other cell mechanisms.MethodsWe used databases which annotate the functional effect of SNPs on mRNA-miRNA and miRNA-RBP interaction. Also, we investigated SNPs which are located on the promoter or UTR region.ResultsmiRNA SNP3.0 database indicated several SNPs in miR-339 and miR-34a in the upstream and downstream of pre-miRNA and mature miRNAs. While, for some miRNAs miR-124, and miR-125, no polymorphism was observed, and also miR-101 with ΔG -3.1 and mir-328 with ΔG 5.8 had the highest and lowest potencies to produce mature microRNA. SNP2TFBS web-server presented several SNPs which altered the Transcription Factor Binding Sites (TFBS) or generated novel TFBS in the promoter regions of related miRNA. At last, RBP-Var database provided a list of SNPs which alter miRNA-RBP interaction pattern and can also influence other miRNAs’ expression.DiscussionThe results indicated that SNPs microRNA affects both miRNA function and miRNA expression. Our study expands molecular insight into how SNPs in different parts of miRNA, including the regulatory (promoter), the precursor (pre-miRNA), functional regions (seed region of mature miRNA), and RBP-binding motifs, which theoretically may be correlated to the Alzheimer’s disease.

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