The Xing lab published a research article in FEBS Letters.

Abstract

miRNAs serve as crucial post-transcriptional regulators in a variety of essential cell fate decisions. However, the contribution of the mRNA-miRNA mutual regulation to bistability is not fully understood. Here, we built a set of mathematical models of mRNA-miRNA interactions and systematically analyzed the sensitivity of the response curves under various conditions. Our findings indicate that mRNA-miRNA reciprocal regulation could manifest ultrasensitivity to subserve the generation of bistability when equipped with a positive feedback loop. We also find that the region of bistability is expanded by a stronger competing endogenous mRNA (ceRNA). Interestingly, bistability can be generated without a feedback loop if multiple miRNA binding sites exist on a target mRNA. Thus, we demonstrate the importance of simple mRNA-miRNA reciprocal regulation in cell fate decisions.

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Tian X-J, Zhang H, Zhang J, Xing J (2016) Reciprocal Regulation Between mRNA and miRNA Enables a Bistable Switch That Directs Cell Fate Decisions FEBS Letters doi: 10.1002/1873-3468.12379.