A Computational Approach to Identifying miRNAs Implicated in Drosophila Neurodevelopment

miRNAs are known to regulate many aspects of neurodevelopment. They participate at different stages of this process from early embryogenesis to adult stage. Their various and specific functions begin to be unraveled in many model systems. Important part of neurogenesis, which generates mature neurons from progenitor cells, is the nerve growth and the formation of synapses. As they underlie the neuronal network formation, perturbation of their proper regulation causes different neuro-developmental diseases in human. In our study we used the model organism Drosophila to identify by a computational approach miRNAs, targeting genes, which control axonal growth and synaptogenesis. We screened preselected groups of genes, known to regulate these processes and identified several micro-RNAs as likely candidates for their expression control. We found five miRNAs, which have been reported earlier to associate with dFMRP (Drosophila Fragile X mental Retardation Protein 1) and which target only a small number of specific genes. We also identified several new miRNA candidates likely implicated in synaptogenesis.