A quantitative understanding of microRNA- mediated competing endogenous RNA regulation

Abstract

MicroRNA (miRNA) plays key roles in post-transcriptional regulations. Recently, a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) hypothesis has been proposed that miRNA targets could communicate and regulate each other through titrating shared miRNAs, which provides a new layer of gene regulation. Though a number of ceRNAs playing biological functions have been identified, the ceRNA hypothesis remains controversial. Recent experimental and theoretical studies argued that the modulation of a single RNA species could hardly change the expression level of competing miRNA targets through ceRNA effect under normal physiological conditions. Here, we reviewed a common framework to model miRNA regulations, and summarized the current theoretical and experimental studies for quantitative understanding ceRNA effect. By revisiting a coarse-grained ceRNA model, we proposed that network topology could significantly influence the competing effect and ceRNA regulation at protein level could be much stronger than that at RNA level. We also provided a conditional independent binding equation to describe miRNA relative repression on different target, which could be applied to quantify siRNA off-target effect.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

microRNA regulation / competing endogenous RNA / molecular titration / quantitative model / complex networks

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