Demonstration of the presence of the "deleted" MIR122 gene in HepG2 cells.

MicroRNA 122 (miR-122) is highly expressed in the liver where it influences diverse biological processes and pathways, including hepatitis C virus replication and metabolism of iron and cholesterol. It is processed from a long non-coding primary transcript (~7.5 kb) and the gene has two evolutionari...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ibrahim A Y Hamad, Yue Fei, Anastasia Z Kalea, Dan Yin, Andrew J P Smith, Jutta Palmen, Steve E Humphries, Philippa J Talmud, Ann P Walker
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2015-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0122471
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849331113958309888
author Ibrahim A Y Hamad
Yue Fei
Anastasia Z Kalea
Dan Yin
Andrew J P Smith
Jutta Palmen
Steve E Humphries
Philippa J Talmud
Ann P Walker
author_facet Ibrahim A Y Hamad
Yue Fei
Anastasia Z Kalea
Dan Yin
Andrew J P Smith
Jutta Palmen
Steve E Humphries
Philippa J Talmud
Ann P Walker
author_sort Ibrahim A Y Hamad
collection DOAJ
description MicroRNA 122 (miR-122) is highly expressed in the liver where it influences diverse biological processes and pathways, including hepatitis C virus replication and metabolism of iron and cholesterol. It is processed from a long non-coding primary transcript (~7.5 kb) and the gene has two evolutionarily-conserved regions containing the pri-mir-122 promoter and pre-mir-122 hairpin region. Several groups reported that the widely-used hepatocytic cell line HepG2 had deficient expression of miR-122, previously ascribed to deletion of the pre-mir-122 stem-loop region. We aimed to characterise this deletion by direct sequencing of 6078 bp containing the pri-mir-122 promoter and pre-mir-122 stem-loop region in HepG2 and Huh-7, a control hepatocytic cell line reported to express miR-122, supported by sequence analysis of cloned genomic DNA. In contrast to previous findings, the entire sequence was present in both cell lines. Ten SNPs were heterozygous in HepG2 indicating that DNA was present in two copies. Three validation isolates of HepG2 were sequenced, showing identical genotype to the original in two, whereas the third was different. Investigation of promoter chromatin status by FAIRE showed that Huh-7 cells had 6.2 ± 0.19- and 2.7 ± 0.01- fold more accessible chromatin at the proximal (HNF4α-binding) and distal DR1 transcription factor sites, compared to HepG2 cells (p=0.03 and 0.001, respectively). This was substantiated by ENCODE genome annotations, which showed a DNAse I hypersensitive site in the pri-mir-122 promoter in Huh-7 that was absent in HepG2 cells. While the origin of the reported deletion is unclear, cell lines should be obtained from a reputable source and used at low passage number to avoid discrepant results. Deficiency of miR-122 expression in HepG2 cells may be related to a relative deficiency of accessible promoter chromatin in HepG2 versus Huh-7 cells.
format Article
id doaj-art-e5b8623e62104b3c870bf244d6f8df0a
institution Kabale University
issn 1932-6203
language English
publishDate 2015-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-e5b8623e62104b3c870bf244d6f8df0a2025-08-20T03:46:43ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032015-01-01103e012247110.1371/journal.pone.0122471Demonstration of the presence of the "deleted" MIR122 gene in HepG2 cells.Ibrahim A Y HamadYue FeiAnastasia Z KaleaDan YinAndrew J P SmithJutta PalmenSteve E HumphriesPhilippa J TalmudAnn P WalkerMicroRNA 122 (miR-122) is highly expressed in the liver where it influences diverse biological processes and pathways, including hepatitis C virus replication and metabolism of iron and cholesterol. It is processed from a long non-coding primary transcript (~7.5 kb) and the gene has two evolutionarily-conserved regions containing the pri-mir-122 promoter and pre-mir-122 hairpin region. Several groups reported that the widely-used hepatocytic cell line HepG2 had deficient expression of miR-122, previously ascribed to deletion of the pre-mir-122 stem-loop region. We aimed to characterise this deletion by direct sequencing of 6078 bp containing the pri-mir-122 promoter and pre-mir-122 stem-loop region in HepG2 and Huh-7, a control hepatocytic cell line reported to express miR-122, supported by sequence analysis of cloned genomic DNA. In contrast to previous findings, the entire sequence was present in both cell lines. Ten SNPs were heterozygous in HepG2 indicating that DNA was present in two copies. Three validation isolates of HepG2 were sequenced, showing identical genotype to the original in two, whereas the third was different. Investigation of promoter chromatin status by FAIRE showed that Huh-7 cells had 6.2 ± 0.19- and 2.7 ± 0.01- fold more accessible chromatin at the proximal (HNF4α-binding) and distal DR1 transcription factor sites, compared to HepG2 cells (p=0.03 and 0.001, respectively). This was substantiated by ENCODE genome annotations, which showed a DNAse I hypersensitive site in the pri-mir-122 promoter in Huh-7 that was absent in HepG2 cells. While the origin of the reported deletion is unclear, cell lines should be obtained from a reputable source and used at low passage number to avoid discrepant results. Deficiency of miR-122 expression in HepG2 cells may be related to a relative deficiency of accessible promoter chromatin in HepG2 versus Huh-7 cells.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0122471
spellingShingle Ibrahim A Y Hamad
Yue Fei
Anastasia Z Kalea
Dan Yin
Andrew J P Smith
Jutta Palmen
Steve E Humphries
Philippa J Talmud
Ann P Walker
Demonstration of the presence of the "deleted" MIR122 gene in HepG2 cells.
PLoS ONE
title Demonstration of the presence of the "deleted" MIR122 gene in HepG2 cells.
title_full Demonstration of the presence of the "deleted" MIR122 gene in HepG2 cells.
title_fullStr Demonstration of the presence of the "deleted" MIR122 gene in HepG2 cells.
title_full_unstemmed Demonstration of the presence of the "deleted" MIR122 gene in HepG2 cells.
title_short Demonstration of the presence of the "deleted" MIR122 gene in HepG2 cells.
title_sort demonstration of the presence of the deleted mir122 gene in hepg2 cells
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0122471
work_keys_str_mv AT ibrahimayhamad demonstrationofthepresenceofthedeletedmir122geneinhepg2cells
AT yuefei demonstrationofthepresenceofthedeletedmir122geneinhepg2cells
AT anastasiazkalea demonstrationofthepresenceofthedeletedmir122geneinhepg2cells
AT danyin demonstrationofthepresenceofthedeletedmir122geneinhepg2cells
AT andrewjpsmith demonstrationofthepresenceofthedeletedmir122geneinhepg2cells
AT juttapalmen demonstrationofthepresenceofthedeletedmir122geneinhepg2cells
AT steveehumphries demonstrationofthepresenceofthedeletedmir122geneinhepg2cells
AT philippajtalmud demonstrationofthepresenceofthedeletedmir122geneinhepg2cells
AT annpwalker demonstrationofthepresenceofthedeletedmir122geneinhepg2cells