A stress-responsive miRNA regulates BMP signaling to maintain tissue homeostasis

ABSTRACT: Adult organisms must sense, respond, and adapt to environmental fluctuations. In high-turnover tissues such as the intestine, these adaptive responses require rapid changes in gene expression that, in turn, likely involve post-transcriptional gene control. However, intestinal tissue specific microRNA mediated regulatory pathways remain unexplored. Here we report the role of an intestinal specific microRNA, miR-958, that non-cell autonomously regulates stem cell numbers during tissue homeostasis and regeneration in the Drosophila adult midgut. We identify its downstream target cabut, the Drosophila ortholog of mammalian KLF10/11 transcription factors, which mediates this miR-958 function by promoting paracrine enterocyte-to-stem cell BMP signaling. We also show that mature miR-958 levels transiently decrease in response to stress, and that this decrease is required for proper stem cell expansion during tissue regeneration. In summary, we have identified a novel post-transcriptional mechanism that modulates BMP signaling activity within Drosophila adult intestinal tissue both during normal homeostasis as well as tissue regeneration to regulate intestinal stem cell numbers.

ORGANISM(S): Drosophila melanogaster

PROVIDER: GSE171030 | GEO | 2021/05/01

REPOSITORIES: GEO