A role for microRNAs in the Drosophila circadian clock

Knocking down the miRNA biogenesis pathway in Drosophila significantly disrupted behavioral rhythms.

• Translational control by microRNAs is suggested to play a role in maintaining circadian rhythms.
• Three core clock mRNAs—clock (clk), vrille (vri), and clockworkorange (cwo)—were identified as being under miRNA control.
• The miRNA bantam is implicated in regulating the core circadian pacemaker's function.
• Bantam may influence the translation of clk by binding to specific sites in its 3' untranslated region.
• Mutated bantam sites in clk transgenes resulted in reduced rescue of rhythms in clk mutant flies compared to wild-type transgenes.

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