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In molecular biology, miR-137 (or microRNA-137) is a short non-coding RNA molecule that functions to regulate the expression levels of other genes by various mechanisms. miR-137 is located on human chromosome 1p22 and has been implicated to act as a tumor suppressor in several cancer types including colorectal cancer, squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma via cell cycle control. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have provided evidence to suggest that single nucleotide polymorphisms in the vicinity of the ''MIR137'' gene are statistically associated with schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. miR-137 is shown to regulate neural stem cell proliferation and differentiation in mouse embryonic stem cells, and neuronal maturation, including regulation of dendrite length, branch points, end points, and spine density in mouse adult hippocampal neuroprogenitor-derived and mouse fetal hippocampus neurons. Decreased spine density has also been observed in the dorsolateral cortex of patients with schizophrenia. miR-137 belongs to the miR-137 clan (a clan is group of two or more RNA families that have arisen from a single evolutionary origin, as derived from their related structure and function). The miR-137 clan contains two members: miR-137 and miR-234; the total number of RNA domains in the clan is 112. == Chromosomal location and transcription == miR-137 is located on chromosome 1p22 within the non-protein-coding RNA gene AK094607. It is transcribed as a non-coding primary miRNA (pri-miRNA) transcript, which is then processed into precursor miRNA (pre-miRNA) and finally into the mature and functional miRNA of 21 to 25 nucleotides. The mature miRNA functions by binding to the 3’ untranslated region (3’ UTR) of multiple target mRNAs. This binding in turn results in an inhibition of translation of the target protein or degradation of the target messenger RNA. The post-transcriptional processing of microRNA-137 can be altered by presence of a 15-bp variable nucleotide tandem repeat in the primary miRNA transcript, which leads to change in folding and the secondary structure of miR-137. This alteration is believed to cause inefficient processing of miR-137 to its mature form, and serve as a mechanism to downregulate miR-137 expression in various human melanoma cell lines. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mir-137」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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