Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 23, 2026

mirMachine: A One-Stop Shop for Plant miRNA Annotation
06:16

mirMachine: A One-Stop Shop for Plant miRNA Annotation

Published on: May 1, 2021

Dicer-dependent miRNAs provide an endogenous restraint on cytotrophoblast proliferation

K Forbes1, F Farrokhnia, J D Aplin

  • 1University of Manchester, School of Biomedicine, Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre, Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre, St Mary's Hospital, Manchester, UK. karen.forbes@manchester.ac.uk

Placenta
|April 21, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Reducing Dicer enzyme levels enhances cytotrophoblast proliferation in the human placenta. This suggests microRNAs (miRNAs) normally inhibit this process, impacting early placental development.

Area of Science:

  • Reproductive Biology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology

Background:

  • MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are crucial regulators of gene expression, processed by the enzyme Dicer.
  • Trophoblast cells are vital for placental development and function.
  • Understanding factors controlling cytotrophoblast proliferation is key to studying placental health.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of Dicer and miRNAs in regulating human cytotrophoblast proliferation.
  • To explore the impact of altered Dicer levels on signaling pathways involved in trophoblast growth.

Main Methods:

  • Immunohistochemistry (IHC) to detect Dicer expression in placental tissues.
  • Small interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated knockdown of Dicer in first-trimester placental explants.
  • Quantitative PCR (QPCR) to analyze gene expression changes.

Main Results:

  • Dicer was localized to cytotrophoblast cells but absent in syncytiotrophoblast.
  • Knockdown of Dicer led to a significant increase in cytotrophoblast proliferation.
  • Expression of pro-mitogenic signaling molecules ERK and SHP-2 was significantly upregulated after Dicer knockdown.

Conclusions:

  • Dicer-dependent miRNAs normally restrain cytotrophoblast proliferation.
  • Modulating miRNA processing via Dicer affects key mitogenic signaling pathways in trophoblast cells.
  • Further research is needed to identify specific miRNAs regulating trophoblast growth.

More Related Videos

siRNA Transfection and EMSA Analyses on Freshly Isolated Human Villous Cytotrophoblasts09:57

siRNA Transfection and EMSA Analyses on Freshly Isolated Human Villous Cytotrophoblasts

Published on: September 20, 2016

Derivation of Mouse Trophoblast Stem Cells from Blastocysts10:19

Derivation of Mouse Trophoblast Stem Cells from Blastocysts

Published on: June 8, 2010

Related Concept Videos

MicroRNAs01:22

MicroRNAs

MicroRNA (miRNA) are short, regulatory RNA transcribed from introns (non-coding regions of a gene) or intergenic regions (stretches of DNA present between genes). Several processing steps are required to form biologically active, mature miRNA. The initial transcript, called primary miRNA (pri-mRNA), base-pairs with itself, forming a stem-loop structure. Within the nucleus, an endonuclease enzyme, called Drosha, shortens the stem-loop structure into hairpin-shaped pre-miRNA. After the pre-miRNA...
MicroRNAs01:22

MicroRNAs

MicroRNA (miRNA) are short, regulatory RNA transcribed from introns—non-coding regions of a gene—or intergenic regions—stretches of DNA present between genes. Several processing steps are required to form biologically active, mature miRNA. The initial transcript, called primary miRNA (pri-mRNA), base-pairs with itself forming a stem-loop structure. Within the nucleus, an endonuclease enzyme, called Drosha, shortens the stem-loop structure into hairpin-shaped pre-miRNA. After the pre-miRNA ends...
piRNA - Piwi-interacting RNAs02:57

piRNA - Piwi-interacting RNAs

PIWI-interacting RNAs, or piRNAs, are the most abundant short non-coding RNAs. More than 20,000 genes have been found in humans that code for piRNAs while only 2000 genes have been found for miRNAs. piRNAs can act at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels and have a vital role in silencing transposable elements present in germ cells. They are also involved in epigenetic silencing and activation. Previously, they were thought to function only in germ cells but new evidence suggests...
Genomic Imprinting and Inheritance02:30

Genomic Imprinting and Inheritance

Diploid organisms inherit genetic material through chromosomes from both parents. Copies of the same gene are known as alleles. In most cases, both alleles are simultaneously expressed and allow various cellular processes to function optimally. If one of the alleles is missing or mutated, the expression of the other allele can compensate; however, this is not true for all genes.
The expression of some genes depends on which parent passed the gene to the offspring, through a phenomenon known as...
RNA Interference01:23

RNA Interference

RNA interference (RNAi) is a process in which a small non-coding RNA molecule blocks the post-transcriptional expression of a gene by binding to its messenger RNA (mRNA) and preventing the protein from being translated.
This process occurs naturally in cells, often through the activity of genomically-encoded microRNAs. Researchers can take advantage of this mechanism by introducing synthetic RNAs to deactivate specific genes for research or therapeutic purposes. For example, RNAi could be used...
Negative Regulator Molecules01:23

Negative Regulator Molecules

Positive regulators allow a cell to advance through cell cycle checkpoints. Negative regulators have an equally important role as they terminate a cell’s progression through the cell cycle—or pause it—until the cell meets specific criteria.