MicroRNA regulation of human protein protein interaction network

RNA. 2007 Sep;13(9):1402-8. doi: 10.1261/rna.634607. Epub 2007 Jul 24.

Abstract

Since the functional state of a protein-protein interaction network depends on gene expression, a fundamental question is what relationships exist between protein interaction network and gene regulation. In particular, microRNAs have recently emerged as a major class of post-transcriptional regulators that influences a large proportion of genes in higher eukaryotes. Here we show that protein connectivity in the human protein-protein interaction network is positively correlated with the number of microRNA target-site types in the 3' untranslated regions of the gene encoding the protein and that interacting proteins tend to share more microRNA target-site types than random pairs. Moreover, our results demonstrate that microRNA targeting propensity for genes in different biological processes can be largely explained by their protein connectivity. Finally, we show that for hub proteins, microRNA regulation complexity is negatively correlated with clustering coefficient, suggesting that microRNA regulation is more important to inter-modular hubs than to intramodular ones. Taken together, our study provides the first evidence for global correlation between microRNA repression and protein-protein interactions.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Dogs
  • Drosophila / genetics
  • Drosophila / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • MicroRNAs / physiology*
  • Protein Interaction Mapping*
  • Proteins / genetics
  • Proteins / metabolism*
  • Random Allocation
  • Rats

Substances

  • MicroRNAs
  • Proteins