TY - JOUR T1 - MiR-146a wild-type 3′ sequence identity is dispensable for proper innate immune function in vivo JF - Life Science Alliance JO - Life Sci. Alliance DO - 10.26508/lsa.201800249 VL - 2 IS - 1 SP - e201800249 AU - Grant Bertolet AU - Natee Kongchan AU - Rebekah Miller AU - Ravi K Patel AU - Antrix Jain AU - Jong Min Choi AU - Alexander B Saltzman AU - Amber Christenson AU - Sung Yun Jung AU - Anna Malovannaya AU - Andrew Grimson AU - Joel R Neilson Y1 - 2019/02/01 UR - https://www.life-science-alliance.org/content/2/1/e201800249.abstract N2 - The prevailing model of microRNA function is that the “seed region” (nt 2–8) is sufficient to mediate target recognition and repression. However, numerous recent studies have challenged this model, either by demonstrating extensive 3′ pairing between physically defined miRNA–mRNA pairs or by showing in Caenorhabditis elegans that disrupted 3′ pairing can result in impaired function in vivo. To test the importance of miRNA 3′ pairing in a mammalian system in vivo, we engineered a mutant murine mir-146a allele in which the 5′ half of the mature microRNA retains its wild-type sequence, but the 3′ half's sequence has been altered to robustly disrupt predicted pairing to this latter region. Mice homozygous or hemizygous for this mutant allele are phenotypically indistinguishable from wild-type controls and do not recapitulate any of the immunopathology previously described for mir-146a–null mice. Our results indicate that 3′ pairing is dispensable for the established myeloid function of this key mammalian microRNA. ER -