The inducible deletion of Drosha and microRNAs in mature podocytes results in a collapsing glomerulopathy.

Abstract

Micro-RNAs (miRNAs) are short (average 22 nucleotides) noncoding regulatory RNAs that inhibit gene expression by targeting complementary 3'-untranslated regions of protein-encoding mRNAs for translational repression or degradation. miRNAs play key roles in both the function and differentiation of many cell types. Drosha and Dicer, two RNAase III enzymes, function in a stepwise manner to generate a mature miRNA. Previous studies have shown that podocyte-specific deletion of Dicer during development results in proteinuric renal disease and collapsing glomerulopathy (CG); however, Dicer has functions other than the generation of miRNAs. Here we found that the podocyte-specific deletion of Drosh..