Functional Analysis of microRNA miR-34 in Caenorhabditis elegans

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in a wide range of biological processes, such as development, cell proliferation and death and oncogenesis, thus identification and characterization of miRNAs has become a rapidly growing area of research. Mir-34 is one of a few deeply conserved miRNAs, found in worms, flies and human. Mir-34 function was mostly studied in mammals and linked to diverse developmental processes, such as cell-cycle arrest, apoptosis. In this thesis study, I have used C. elegans as a model organism to further advance our understanding of mir-34 gene.