Sci-Bytes> Hot Paper in Biology
Week of December 5, 2010
"Widespread changes in protein synthesis induced by microRNAs," by Matthias Selbach and 5 others, Nature, 455(7209): 58-63, 4 September 2008.
[Authors' affiliations: Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany; University of Glasgow, U.K.]
Abstract: "Animal microRNAs (miRNAs) regulate gene expression by inhibiting translation and/or by inducing degradation of target messenger RNAs. It is unknown how much translational control is exerted by miRNAs on a genome-wide scale. We used a new proteomic approach to measure changes in synthesis of several thousand proteins in response to miRNA transfection or endogenous miRNA knockdown. In parallel, we quantified mRNA levels using microarrays. Here we show that a single miRNA can repress the production of hundreds of proteins, but that this repression is typically relatively mild. A number of known features of the miRNA-binding site such as the seed sequence also govern repression of human protein synthesis, and we report additional target sequence characteristics. We demonstrate that, in addition to downregulating mRNA levels, miRNAs also directly repress translation of hundreds of genes. Finally, our data suggest that a miRNA can, by direct or indirect effects, tune protein synthesis from thousands of genes."
This 2008 report from Nature was cited 41 times in current journal articles indexed by Clarivate during July-August 2010. During that two-month period, only one other biology paper published in the last two years, aside from reviews, collected a higher number of citations. Prior to the most recent bimonthly count, citations to the paper have accrued as follows:
May-June 2010: 38 citations
March-April 2010: 31
January-February 2010: 36
November-December 2009: 38
September-October 2009: 29
July-August 2009: 31
March-April 2009: 30
January-February 2009: 32
November-December 2008: 33
September-October 2008: 9
July-August 2008: 2
Total citations to date: 350
SOURCE: Hot Papers Database (Included with a subscription to the print newsletter Science Watch®, available from the Research Services Group of Thomson Reuters. Packaged on a CD that is mailed with each Science Watch issue, the Hot Papers Database contains data on hundreds of highly cited papers published during the last two years. User interface permits searching by author, organization, journal, field, and more. Total citations, as well as citations accrued during successive bimonthly periods, can be assessed and graphed. An updated CD containing the most recent bimonthly data is mailed with every new issue of Science Watch, six times a year. The CD also includes an electronic version of the Science Watch issue in HTML format, for personal desktop access.
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