Ren, ZhijiVeksler-Lublinsky, IsanaMorrissey, DavidAmbros, Victor R.2022-08-232022-08-232016-02-262016-03-09G3 (Bethesda). 2016 Feb 26. pii: g3.116.027300. doi: 10.1534/g3.116.027300. [Epub ahead of print]. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1534/g3.116.027300">Link to article on publisher's website</a>2160-183610.1534/g3.116.02730026921297https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/44451<p>Early Online version of manuscript.</p>The double-stranded RNA-binding protein Staufen has been implicated in various post-transcriptional gene regulatory processes. Here we demonstrate that the Caenorhabditis elegans homolog of Staufen, STAU-1, functionally interacts with microRNAs. Loss-of-function mutations of stau-1 significantly suppress phenotypes of let-7 family microRNA mutants, a hypomorphic allele of dicer and a lsy-6 microRNA partial loss-of-function mutant. Furthermore, STAU-1 modulates the activity of lin-14, a target of lin-4 and let-7 family microRNAs, and this modulation is abolished when the 3' untranslated region of lin-14 is removed. Deep sequencing of small RNA cDNA libraries reveals no dramatic change in the levels of microRNAs, or other small RNA populations between wild type and stau-1 mutant, with the exception of certain endogenous siRNAs in the WAGO pathway. The modulation of microRNA activity by STAU-1 does not seem to be associated with the previously reported enhanced exogenous RNAi (Eri) phenotype of stau-1 mutants since eri-1 exhibits the opposite effect on microRNA activity. Altogether, our results suggest that STAU-1 negatively modulates microRNA activity downstream of biogenesis, possibly by competing with microRNAs for binding on the 3' untranslated region of target mRNAs.en-US<p>Copyright © 2016 Author <em>et al. </em>This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</a>), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.</p>http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/microRNAstau-1RNAiRNA-binding protein3’UTRBiochemistryDevelopmental BiologyGeneticsGenomicsMolecular BiologyMolecular GeneticsJournal Articlehttps://escholarship.umassmed.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1041&amp;context=pmm_pp&amp;unstamped=1https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/pmm_pp/428292648pmm_pp/42