MicroRNA-181a modulates gene expression of zinc finger family members by directly targeting their coding regions

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small endogenous, non-coding RNAs that specifically bind to the 3′ untranslated region (3′UTR) of target genes in animals. However, some recent studies have demonstrated that miRNAs also target the coding regions of mammalian genes. Here, we show that miRNA-181a downregulates the expression of a large number of zinc finger genes (ZNFs). Bioinformatics analysis revealed that these ZNFs contain many miR-181a seed-matched sites within their coding sequences (CDS). In particular, miR-181a 8-mer-matched sequences were mostly localized to the regions coding for the ZNF C2H2 domain. A series of reporter assays confirmed that miR-181a inhibits the expression of ZNFs by directly targeting their CDS. These inhibitory effects might be due to the multiple target sites located within the ZNF genes. In conclusion, our findings indicate that some miRNA species may regulate gene family by targeting their coding regions, thus providing an important and novel perspective for decoding the complex mechanism of miRNA/mRNA interplay.