The functions of miR-3960 in all-trans-retinoic acid induced cleft palate mouse model

Objective To research the functions of miR-3960 in all-trans-retinoic acid (atRA) induced cleft palate mouse model in order to provide the theoretical basis for gene therapy of cleft palate. Methods Excessive atRA induced cleft palate mouse model was established and palatine process tissues were collected. qRT-PCR was used to detect the expression of miR-3960. miRBase was used to analyse the characteristics of miR-3960 sequence. TargetScanMouse Prediction of microRNA targetswas used to predict the target genes of miR-3960. DAVID v6.8 database was used to perform bioinformatics analysis of target genes. Results miR-3960 was up-regulated in the experimental group. From the analysis of miRBase, we only got the sequences of miR-3960 in two species, and the two sequences were the same. There were 320 predicted target genes, the functions were mainly concentrated in cell proliferation, cell differentiation, embryo development and tissue development and so on (P<0.05), the signaling pathways were mainly concentrated in the calcium signaling pathway, cAMP signaling pathway and cGMP-PKG signaling pathway and so on (P<0.05). Conclusions In excessive atRA induced cleft palate mouse models, the up-regulated miR-3960 may result in cleft palate by inhibiting the proliferation and differentiation of palatal mesenchymal cells. Key words: All-trans-retinoic acid; Cleft palate; miR-3960; Gene; Bioinformatics