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The admiR-able advances in cardiovascular biology through the zebrafish model system

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Abstract

MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNAs endogenously expressed by all tissues during development and adulthood. They regulate gene expression by controlling the stability of targeted messenger RNA. In cardiovascular tissues microRNAs play a role by modulating essential genes involved in heart and blood vessel development and homeostasis. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) system is a recognized vertebrate model system useful to study cardiovascular biology; recently, it has been used to investigate microRNA functions during natural and pathological states. In this review, we will illustrate the advantages of the zebrafish model in the study of microRNAs in heart and vascular cells, providing an update on recent discoveries using the zebrafish to identify new microRNAs and their targeted genes in cardiovascular tissues. Lastly, we will provide evidence that the zebrafish is an optimal model system to undercover new microRNA functions in vertebrates and to improve microRNA-based therapeutic approaches.

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Acknowledgments

We apologize to the many researchers whose work was not cited in this review because of space limitations. We would like to thank all members of Santoro's laboratory for support and discussion, Stefania Nicoli for sharing information before publication, Ellen Jane Corcoran for editorial assistance, and our anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on this manuscript. Work in Massimo Santoro’s laboratory is supported by a HFSP Career Developmental Award, Marie Curie Action (IRG 247852), Telethon (GGP10195), and AIRC (MFAG 8911).

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  1. Department of Biology, Biochemistry and Genetics, Molecular Biotechnology Center, University of Turin, Via Nizza 52, 10126, Turin, Italy

    Dafne Gays & Massimo Mattia Santoro

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  1. Dafne Gays
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  2. Massimo Mattia Santoro
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Correspondence to Massimo Mattia Santoro.

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Gays, D., Santoro, M.M. The admiR-able advances in cardiovascular biology through the zebrafish model system. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 70, 2489–2503 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-012-1181-4

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