In this paper, the authors review how the circular RNA Cdr1as and its interacting non-coding RNAs regulate neuronal stress responses and synaptic activity, highlighting general principles of RNA-based...

Senior Research Group Leader in the Genomics Research Centre - Functional Genomics Programme

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are key post-transcriptional regulators of cell state transitions, yet their function in early human brain development is largely unknown. Here, we present a longitudinal analysis of miRNA function in developing human forebrain organoids. We show that mRNAs and miRNAs expression mirrors known developmental gene programs and that miRNA biogenesis peaks at neural commitment. To test the function of miRNAs in regulating commitment, we impaired their biogenesis at defined stages. miRNA disruption during pre-neuronal commitment caused severe patterning defects, whereas post-commitment perturbation had minimal impact on forebrain identity. We show that miRNA loss during pre-commitment increased WNT and BMP signaling, thus shifting cell fates towards non-forebrain identity such as midbrain/hindbrain. These effects could be partially rescued by expressing five miRNAs. Our findings uncover a critical time window where miRNAs regulate morphogen signaling in early human neurodevelopment, establishing them as essential temporal determinants of cell fate and brain regional identity. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

Laboratory for Molecular and Systems Biology of RNA   The Legnini Group at Human Technopole combines molecular and systems biology approaches to study gene regulation. We use synthetic biology and opt...

Nature Ecology & Evolution - Analysis of the 3D chromatin architecture and cis-regulatory elements in a sea urchin and a sea star reveals mechanisms of 3D chromatin organization in echinoderms...

Circadian clocks orchestrate daily physiology and behavioral rhythms, yet the extent to which cells lacking canonical clock components exhibit robust temporal regulation remains unclear. Here we addre...

This study reconstructs the gene regulatory networks that define cell types in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, providing a valuable resource for comparative regulatory genomics and the evoluti...

Due to the costs of single-cell sequencing, sample sizes are often relatively limited, sometimes leading to poorly reproducible results. In many contexts, however, larger bulk RNAseq data is…

An international, peer-reviewed genome sciences journal featuring outstanding original research that offers novel insights into the biology of all organisms

Single-cell RNA-seq facilitates the study of transcriptome diversity in individual cells. Here, authors introduce a tool for isoform quantification at the single-cell level using 3’ scRNA-seq data, co...

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