Jinjun Qian

Publications (3)7.65 Total impact

• Article: The full-length transcripts and promoter analysis of intergenic microRNAs in Drosophila melanogaster.

  Jinjun Qian, Zan Zhang, Jingdong Liang, Qiongqiong Ge, Xuchu Duan, Fei Ma, Fei Li
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  ABSTRACT: MicroRNA (miRNA) transcription is still not well understood until now. To increase the miRNA abundance, we stimulated miRNA transcription with CuSO(4) and knocked down Drosha enzyme using dsRNA in Drosophila S2 cells. The full length transcripts of bantam, miR-276a and miR-277, the 5'-end of miR-8, the 3'-end of miR-2b and miR-10 were obtained. We also conducted a series of miRNA promoter analysis to prove the reliability of RACE results. Luciferase-reporter assays proved that both bantam and miR-276a promoters successfully drove the expressions of downstream luciferase genes. The promoter activities were impaired by introducing one or multiple mutations at predicted transcription factor binding sites. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis confirmed that hypophosphorylated RNA polymerase II and transcription factor c-Myc physically bind at miRNA promoter. RNA interference of transcription factors Mad and Prd led to down-expression of bantam, miR-277 and miR-2b but not miR-276a, whereas RNAi of Dorsal had the opposite effect.
  Genomics 02/2011; 97(5):294-303. · 3.02 Impact Factor
• Article: Abundant conserved microRNA target sites in the 5'-untranslated region and coding sequence.

  Xue Zhou, Xuchu Duan, Jinjun Qian, Fei Li
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  ABSTRACT: Recent studies have shown that miRNAs can target the promoter and CDS region. Thus, we predicted miRNA target sites in the 5'-UTR, CDS and 3'-UTR of Homo sapiens, Mus musculus and Drosophila melanogaster using miRanda and TargetScan. Target-site densities normalized with the average region length were higher in the 5'-UTR than 3'-UTR in all three organisms but were lower in the negative data set. Interestingly, the putative target sites were more conserved than non-target regions in both the 5'-UTR and 3'-UTR, implying that target sites in the 5'-UTR are subject to high selective pressure and might be functional. In Drosophila, 48 of 78 (61.5%) miRNAs showed high similarities with predicted siRNAs. Based on the results of previous experimental studies and a large-scale statistical analysis, we conclude that miRNA-mediated regulation is not limited to the 3'-UTR. However, the functionality of target sites in the 5'-UTR and CDS requires thorough investigation.
  Genetica 08/2009; 137(2):159-64. · 2.15 Impact Factor
• Article: Independent transcription of miR-281 in the intron of ODA in Drosophila melanogaster.

  Huiping Xiong, Jinjun Qian, Tao He, Fei Li
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  ABSTRACT: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have recently received much interest for their role in post-transcriptional regulation. However, the study of miRNA transcription lags behind that of gene cloning and functional analysis. The MiR-281 in Drosophila melanogaster is located in the first intron of isoform RA of the ornithine decarboxylase antizyme (ODA) gene. ODA has three isoforms because of alternative transcription start sites (TSSs). Expression profile analysis indicated that miR-281 is not co-expressed with any ODA isoform. We amplified the primary transcripts of miR-281 using the RACE technique. The pri-miRNA is 2149bp with a poly (A) tail and a canonical polyadenylation signal (AATAAA). Chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis confirmed the binding of hypophosphorylated Pol-II and the transcription factor Myc at the core miR-281 promoter region. The abundance of miR-281 does not correlate, either positively or negatively, with the expression of any ODA isoform, indicating that ODA has little influence on the transcription of miR-281.
  Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 01/2009; 378(4):883-9. · 2.48 Impact Factor