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Updated: Jul 10, 2025
Analysis of Apoptosis in Zebrafish Embryos by Whole-mount Immunofluorescence to Detect Activated Caspase 3
Published on: December 20, 2013
MSTRG3207 promotes apoptosis in zebrafish ZF4 cells via sponging dre-miR-736/bbc3/LOC101885512 axis during cold
Zhongqiu Zhu1, Qianting Yang1, Xiaoying Tian1
1Key Laboratory of Exploration and Utilization of Aquatic Genetic Resources (Shanghai Ocean University), Ministry of Education, Shanghai 201306, China; National Demonstration Center for Experimental Fisheries Science Education, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China.
Abstract:
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play essential roles in a variety of biological processes. It has been recently reported that lncRNAs can regulate mRNA expression by binding to microRNAs (miRNAs) as competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs). However, the involvement of this regulatory mechanism during cold acclimation in fish remains unclear. In this study, we constructed a ceRNA network mediated by lncRNAs in cold-acclimated zebrafish ZF4 cells through bioinformatic analysis of the mRNA, miRNA, and lncRNA profiles obtained from ZF4 cells cultured at 18 °C for 30 days. A previously uncharacterized lncRNA, MSTRG3207, was selected for further analysis. MSTRG3207 was upregulated and dre-miR-736 was downregulated during cold acclimation. MSTRG3207 was cloned by rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) and functionally characterized. The binding of MSTRG3207 to dre-miR-736 was validated by dual-luciferase reporter assay. Under cold acclimation, MSTRG3207 promoted apoptosis by sponging dre-miR-736 and upregulating bbc3 and LOC101885512, two apoptotic genes targeted by dre-miR-736. Taken together, our findings indicate that MSTRG3207 upregulation promotes apoptosis by sponging dre-miR-736 during cold acclimation in fish.
