A potential posttranscriptional regulator for p60‐katanin: miR‐124‐3p

Abstract Katanin is a microtubule severing protein belonging to the ATPase family and consists of two subunits; p60‐katanin synthesized by the KATNA1 gene and p80‐katanin synthesized by the KATNB1 gene. Microtubule severing is one of the mechanisms that allow the reorganization of microtubules depending on cellular needs. While this reorganization of microtubules is associated with mitosis in dividing cells, it primarily takes part in the formation of structures such as axons and dendrites in nondividing mature neurons. Therefore, it is extremely important in neuronal branching. p60 and p80 katanin subunits coexist in the cell. While p60‐katanin is responsible for cutting microtubules with its ATPase function, p80‐katanin is responsible for the regulation of p60‐katanin and its localization in the centrosome. Although katanin has vital functions in the cell, there are no known posttranscriptional regulators of it. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a group of small noncoding ribonucleotides that have been found to have important roles in regulating gene expression posttranscriptionally. Despite being important in gene regulation, so far no microRNA has been experimentally associated with katanin regulation. In this study, the effects of miR‐124‐3p, which we detected as a result of bioinformatics analysis to have the potential to bind to the p60 katanin mRNA, were investigated. For this aim, in this study, SH‐SY5Y neuroblastoma cells were transfected with pre‐miR‐124‐3p mimics and pre‐mir miRNA precursor as a negative control, and the effect of this transfection on p60‐katanin expression was measured at both RNA and protein levels by quantitative real‐time PCR (qRT‐PCR) and western blotting, respectively. The results of this study showed for the first time that miR‐124‐3p, which was predicted to bind p60‐katanin mRNA by bioinformatic analysis, may regulate the expression of the KATNA1 gene. The data obtained within the scope of this study will make important contributions in order to better understand the regulation of the expression of p60‐katanin which as well will have an incontrovertible impact on the understanding of the importance of cytoskeletal reorganization in both mitotic and postmitotic cells.