1. Mirna INTRODUCTION………………….………..…………………………………...1 1.1
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Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux Année 2013 Thèse n° 2073 THÈSE Pour le DOCTORAT DE L’UNIVERSITE BORDEAUX SEGALEN Mention : Science Biologique et Médicales Option : Neurosciences Présentée et soutenue publiquement Le 22 novembre 2013 Par Sara ELRAMAH Née le 17 Juin 1981 au Soudan Towards a Better Understanding of miRNA Function in Neuronal Plasticity: Implications in Synaptic Homeostasis and Maladaptive Plasticity in Bone Cancer Pain Condition MicroRNAs et Plasticité Neuronale: Rôle dans l’Homéostasie Synaptique et la Plasticité Dysfonctionnelle en Condition de Douleur Cancéreuse Membre du Jury : M. Martin Teichmann – Professeur - INSERM U869, Université Bordeaux Segalen, Président Mme. Marzia Malcangio – Professeur - King’s College of London, Rapporteur M. Alain Trembleau - Professeur - UMR CNRS 7102 – Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Rapporteur Mme. Valérie Fénelon - Professeur - INSERM U862 - Université Bordeaux 1, Examinateur Mme. Florence Rage - Docteur – UMR CNRS 5535 - Montpellier, Examinateur M. Alexandre Favereaux – Docteur – UMR CNRS 5297 - Université Bordeaux Segalen ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Three years of my life was not just about scientific degree, it has been a life experience that I learned a lot from.. It was challenging for me to start new domain in my PhD, and I was always thinking that this must be even more challenging for the thesis supervisor. I am grateful for everything Alexandre Favereaux taught me, and for the patience in doing it. Thank you.. I would like to thank Marc Landry for all the help and opportunities he gave me, but mostly, I would like to thank him for believing in me. This was so important for me to know from Marc as Marc and as head of the team. Many thanks for Frédéric Nagy and André Calas for their helpful comments and fruitful discussions. Christel Baudet; I am grateful for all the help you gave me with experiments. Thank you so much for your sincere concern, and the support you gave me during the 3 years. Thank you for listening. Thank you so much Rabia Benazzouz for the help, especially with organizing animal experiments. I am truly grateful for all the help Olivier Lapirot gave me. Even when he was super busy with projects and students, he always managed to cut a time explaining and helping me with experiments. Thank you… I would like to thank Yves Le Feuvre for the “electronic” help and for his enlightening discussions that participated significantly to this work. It will always be linked in my mind Bordeaux and Cherine Abd Alsalam I will always treasure the time we spent together. Thanks for everything Cheri.. The project was that you help me practicing the language, and you did you part perfectly. I am sorry that I am leaving 3 years later with the same vocabulary, yet, am so grateful for the nice evenings out. Thank you Fanny Farrugia for everything, you truly helped me. I can’t imagine a scenario of me doing PhD in Bordeaux without Petra Horakova. Thank you so much for been there. I don’t know what I would have done without your support. Amira Zaki and Ahmad Bassiouny; it has been a real pleasure meeting you. I really enjoyed my time in your company. Thank you so much Paul Robillard for the help with cell culture, you made my life easier. Marie Moftah; I don’t think I would have accomplished this work without you. Thank you for the opportunity. I would like to thank Matthieu Bastide for the efforts, and for his significant participation in this thesis’ projects. I would like to thank all master students who spent their internships in the lab during the 3 years. Especially I would like to thank Charline Kambrun and Alienor Ragot for their help. I would like to thank members of Nagy Team for the help they gave me to settle down, when I first arrived the city. I would like to thank members of Group Le Masson; especially, Virginie Roques, Vanessa Charrier, Claire Leger, Ludivine Allard, Alexia Roux. Importantly I would like to thank Jean-Marie Cabelguen for the nice discussions and the help he is always willing to give. My Family, I wanted to start mentioning my gratitude for each thing you did for me, I didn’t know whether I should start with thanking for listening, being by my side, support you gave me, looong phone calls, coping with the drama … this is going to be long list. I will just thank you for the unconditional love. If this work is considered an achievement, it’s yours as it is mine. If I asked to whom I would like to dedicate this work, it will be again and always to the beautiful souls of Tita and Hano. ABSTRACT MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a type of small RNA molecules (21-25nt), with a central role in RNA silencing and interference. MiRNAs function as negative regulators of gene expression at the post- transcriptional level, by binding to specific sites on their targeted mRNAs. A process results in mRNA degradation or repression of productive translation. Because partial binding to target mRNA is enough to induce silencing, each miRNA has up to hundreds of targets. miRNAs have been shown to be involved in most, if not all, fundamental biological processes. Some of the most interesting examples of miRNA activity regulation are coming from neurons. Almost 50% of all identified miRNAs are expressed in the mammalian brain. Furthermore, miRNAs appear to be differentially distributed in distinct brain regions and neuron types. Importantly, miRNAs are reported to be differentially distributed at the sub-cellular level. Recently, miRNAs have been suggested to be involved in the local translation of neuronal compartments. This has been derived from the observations reporting the presence of miRNAs and the protein complexes involved in miRNA biogenesis and function in neuronal soma, dendrites, and axons. Deregulation of miRNAs has been shown to be implicated in pathological conditions. The present thesis aimed at deciphering the role of miRNA regulation in neuronal plasticity. Here we investigated the involvement of miRNA in synaptic plasticity, specifically in homeostatic synaptic plasticity mode. In addition, we investigated the involvement of miRNAs in the maladaptive nervous system state, specifically, in bone cancer pain condition. We hypothesized that local regulation of AMPA receptor translation in dendrites upon homeostatic synaptic scaling may involve miRNAs. Using bioinformatics, qRT-PCR and luciferase reporter assays, we identified several brain-specific miRNAs including miR-92a, targeting the 3’UTR of GluA1 mRNA. Immunostaining of AMPA receptors and recordings of miniature AMPA currents in primary neurons showed that miR-92a selectively regulates the synaptic incorporation of new GluA1- containing AMPA receptors during activity blockade. Pain is a very common symptom associated with cancer and is still a challenge for clinicians due to the lack of specific and effective treatments. This reflects the crucial lack of knowledge regarding the molecular mechanisms responsible for cancer-related pain. Combining miRNA and mRNA screenings we were able to identify a regulatory pathway involving the nervous system-enriched miRNA, miR- 124. Thus, miR-124 downregulation was associated with an upregulation of its predicted targets, Calpain 1, Synaptopodin and Tropomyosin 4 in a cancer-pain model in mice. All these targets have been previously identified as key proteins for the synapse function and plasticity. Clinical pertinence of this finding was assessed by the screening of cerebrospinal fluid from cancer patient suffering from pain who presented also a downregulation of miR-124, strongly suggesting miR-124 as a therapeutic target. In vitro experiments confirmed that miR-124 exerts a multi-target inhibition on Calpain 1, Synaptopodin and Tropomyosin 4. In addition, intrathecal injection of miR-124 was able to normalize the Synaptopodin expression and to alleviate the initial phase of cancer pain in mice. INDEX 1. MiRNA INTRODUCTION………………….………..…………………………………...1 1.1. MiRNAs Genome………………………………………………….………….…...5 1.2. MiRNAs Biogenesis………………………………….……………………………7 1.3. MiRNA:Target mRNA Recognition……………….…………………………….13 1.3.1 MiRNA:Target mRNA Binding Sites……..……………………………16 1.3.2 MiRNA:Target Interaction (∆G)…………………………….………….19 1.3.3 MiRNA:Target Interaction (G:U Wobble base pairs)………......………19 1.3.4 Additional Features Influencing Site Efficacy………………………….19 1.3.5 MiRNA Targeting Coding Regions and 5’UTR………………......……20 1.3.6 MiRNAs Target Multiplicity…………………………..……..……..…..21 1.3.7 Multiple Target Sites Synergistic effect…………………..………….…22 1.3.8 MiRNA Non-conserved Target Sites………………………………....…23 1.3.9 Approaches for Target Recognition……………………....……………..23 1.4 MiRNAs’ Modes of Regulation………………………….………………….……24 1.4.1 Translational Repression…………………….………………………….26 1.4.1.1 Inhibition at Pre-Initiation Stage……………….…….……….26 1.4.1.2 Repression at Post-Translation Initiation Stage……..….……..27 1.4.1.2.1 Co-translational Protein Degradation………….……28 1.4.1.2.2 Inhibition of Translation Elongation………….…..…29 1.4.1.2.3 Premature Termination & Ribosome Drop-off…...…29 1.4.2 Target Degradation………………………………………………….…..29 1.4.3 Repression or Degradation Mode of Regulation………...……………...31 1.4.4 Cleavage/Slicing………………………………………………………...32 1.4.5 Explanations for Conflicted MiRNA Regulation Data…………...…….34 1.4.6 P-bodies or GW-bodies…………………………………………..……..36 1.4.7 Stress Granules…………………………….…….……………….……..39 1.4.8 MiRNA-mediated Target Upregulation……………………………...…40 1.5 Functional Aspects of MiRNAs……………………………………………..……44 1.5.1 Models of miRNA Function……………………………………...……..44 1.5.1.1 Switch Targets……………………………………………..….45