No abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a key gene regulator and play essential roles in several biological and pathological mechanisms in the human system. In recent years, plenty of miRNAs have been identified to be involved in the development of neurodegenerative disorders (NDDs), thus making them an attractive option for therapeutic approaches. Hence, in this review, we provide an overview of the current research of miRNA-based therapeutics for a selected set of NDDs, either for their high prevalence or lethality, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Friedreich’s Ataxia, Spinal Muscular Atrophy, and Frontotemporal Dementia. We also discuss the relevant delivery techniques, pertinent outcomes, their limitations, and their potential to become a new generation of human therapeutic drugs in the near future.

No abstract

Superfruit guava (Psidium guajava L.) is one of the healthiest fruits due to its high antioxidant dietary fiber and vitamin content. However, the growth and development of this plant are severely affected by salinity stress, mostly at the seedling stage. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, noncoding, endogenous, highly conserved RNA molecules that play key regulatory roles in plant development, organ morphogenesis, and stress response signaling. In this study, applying computational approaches and following high stringent filtering criteria, a total of 40 potential microRNAs belonging to 19 families were characterized from guava. The identified miRNA precursors formed stable stem-loop structures and exhibited high sequence conservation among diverse and evolutionarily distant plant species. Differential expression pattern of seven selected guava miRNAs (pgu-miR156f-5p, pgu-miR160c-5p, pgu-miR162-3p, pgu-miR164b-5p, pgu-miR166t, pgu-miR167a-5p, and pgu-miR390b-5p) were recorded under salinity stress and pgu-miR162-3p, pgu-miR164b-5p as well as pgu-miR166t were found to be the most affected ones. Using the psRNATarget tool, a total of 49 potential target transcripts of the characterized guava miRNAs were identified in this study which are mostly involved in metabolic pathways, cellular development, and stress response signaling. A biological network has also been constructed to understand the miRNA mediated gene regulation using the minimum free energy (MFE) values of the miRNA-target interaction. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of guava miRNAs and their targets.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is increasingly recognised as a systemic disorder in which inflammation might play a causative role rather than being a consequence or an epiphenomenon of the neurodegenerative process. Although growing genetic evidence links the central and peripheral immune system with both monogenic and sporadic PD, our understanding on how the immune system contributes to PD pathogenesis remains a daunting challenge. In this review, we discuss recent literature aimed at exploring the role of known genes and susceptibility loci to PD pathogenesis through immune system related mechanisms. Furthermore, we outline shared genetic etiologies and interrelations between PD and autoimmune diseases and underlining challenges and limitations faced in the translation of relevant allelic and regulatory risk loci to immune-pathological mechanisms. Lastly, with the field of immunogenetics expanding rapidly, we place these insights into a future context highlighting the prospect of immune modulation as a promising disease-modifying strategy.