Discovery of an evolutionarily conserved smooth muscle cell-specific lncRNA CARMN
Discovery of an evolutionarily conserved smooth muscle cell-specific lncRNA CARMN
Abstract Differentiated vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) are critical in maintaining vascular homeostasis by expressing a unique repertoire of contractile genes. Despite the well-defined coding transcriptome in differentiated VSMCs, little is known about the non-coding gene expression signature. Herein, by de novo analyzing publicly available RNA-seq and single cell RNA-seq datasets generated from different tissues and cell types, we unambiguously identified CARMN (CARdiac Mesoderm Enhancer-associated Non-coding RNA) as an evolutionarily conserved, SMC-specific lncRNA. CARMN was initially annotated as the host gene of MIR143/145 cluster and recently reported to play roles in cardiac differentiation. Here, we generated a Carmn GFP knock-in reporter mouse model and confirmed its specific expression in SMCs in vivo. In addition, we found Carmn is transcribed independently from Mir143/145 and only expressed transiently in embryonic cardiomyocytes and thereafter becomes restricted to adult SMCs in both human and mouse. Furthermore, we demonstrated that CARMN expression is not only dramatically decreased in human vascular diseases but functionally critical in maintaining VSMC contractile phenotype in vitro. In conclusion, we provided the first evidence showing that CARMN is an evolutionarily conserved SMC-specific lncRNA, down-regulated in different human vascular diseases, and a key lncRNA for maintaining SMC contractile phenotype.
Zhou Jiliang、Shen Jian、He Xiangqin、Vazdarjanova Almira、Hu Guoqing、Bunting Kirstopher M.、Wang Liang、Dong Kunzhe、Xin Hongbo、Zheng Zeqi、Dixon-Melvin Rachael、Xiang Meixiang
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta UniversityDepartment of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University||Department of Cardiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang UniversityDepartment of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University||The National Engineering Research Center for Bioengineering Drugs and the Technologies, Institute of Translational Medicine, Nanchang University||School of Life Sciences, Nanchang UniversityDepartment of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta UniversityDepartment of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta UniversityDepartment of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta UniversityDepartment of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University||Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang UniversityDepartment of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta UniversityThe National Engineering Research Center for Bioengineering Drugs and the Technologies, Institute of Translational Medicine, Nanchang University||School of Life Sciences, Nanchang UniversityDepartment of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang UniversityDepartment of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta UniversityDepartment of Cardiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University
基础医学分子生物学细胞生物学
Zhou Jiliang,Shen Jian,He Xiangqin,Vazdarjanova Almira,Hu Guoqing,Bunting Kirstopher M.,Wang Liang,Dong Kunzhe,Xin Hongbo,Zheng Zeqi,Dixon-Melvin Rachael,Xiang Meixiang.Discovery of an evolutionarily conserved smooth muscle cell-specific lncRNA CARMN[EB/OL].(2025-03-28)[2025-06-06].https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.01.30.927335.点此复制
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