Fragile X syndrome is the most common inherited form of mental retardation. Trinucleotide repeat expansions in the fragile X mental retardation (FMR1) gene cause a loss of functional fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP). This protein selectively binds to mRNAs to regulate translation. It was shown previously that the Drosophila ortholog of FMR1, dFmr1, helps maintain germline stem cells in the Drosophila ovary. A new study by Yang et al. shows that several microRNAs interact physically with FMRP in the Drosophila ovary. They also demonstrate that interaction between dFmr1 and the bantam microRNA, a microRNA known to promote tissue growth, controls germline stem cell fate in the fly. This work suggests that FMRP uses microRNAs to regulate mRNA transcription.
Yang Y., Xu S., Xia L., Wang J., Wen S., Jin P., Chen D.. (2009). The bantam microRNA is associated with Drosophila fragile X mental retardation protein and regulates the fate of germline stem cells. PLoS Genet. 5, e1000444.
