Association of miR-938G>A Polymorphisms with Primary Ovarian Insufficiency (POI)-Related Gene Expression

• Main Authors: Sung Hwan Cho, Eun Hee Ahn, Hui Jeong An, Ji Hyang Kim, Jung Jae Ko, Young Ran Kim, Woo Sik Lee, Nam Keun Kim
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2017-06-01
• Series: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
• Subjects: single nucleotide polymorphism; microRNA; primary ovarian insufficiency; gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor, granulosa cells
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/18/6/1255
• ISSN: 1422-0067

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression in animals and plants. The aim of this study was to investigate whether polymorphisms in miR-938 are associated with the risk of primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) and POI-related target gene regulation. We identified the miR-938G>A polymorphisms within the seed sequence of mature miRNA and aligned the seed sequence with the 3′ untranslated region (UTR) of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor (GnRHR) mRNA, a miR-938 target gene. We found that the binding of miR-938 to the 3′-UTR of GnRHR mRNA was significantly different between normal and variant alleles. Our data suggests that the dysregulation of miR-938G>A influences the binding to GnRHR and that miR-938G>A polymorphisms might contribute to regulation of POI-related target genes.