SMALL RNA IN REVERSE TRANSCRIPTASE： TOO SMALL TO BE FOUND Significant background in no-template or no-primer RT-PCR is frequently noted. However, the underlying mechanism is still unclear. In this issue, Jie Xu and colleagues reveal that the com- mercial reverse transcriptases contain small RNAs. In AMV reverse transcriptase, they detected microRNAs derived from the virus host chick or other birds. This surprising finding at least partially explains the high background in some AMV reverse transcriptases based RT-PCR.
Jie Xu Xi Chen Donghai Li Qun Chen Zhen Zhou Dongxia Hou Jin Wang Qipeng Zhang Ke Zen Chen-Yu Zhang
Colostrum provides essential nutrients and immunologically active factors that are beneficial to newborns.Our previous work demonstrated that milk contains large amounts of miRNA that is largely stored in milk-derived microvesicles(MVs).In the present study,we found that the MVs from colostrum contain signifi cantly higher levels of several immune-related miRNAs.We hypothesized that the colostrum MVs may transfer the immune-related miR-NAs into cells,which contribute to its immune modulatory feature.We isolated colostrum MVs by ultracentrifugation and demonstrated several immune modulation features associated with miRNAs.We also provide evidence that the physical structure of milk-derived MVs is essential for transfer miRNAs and following immune modulation effect.Moreover,we found that colostrum powder-derived MVs also contains higher levels of immune-related miRNAs that display similar immune modulation effects.Taken together,these results show that MV-containing immunerelated miRNAs may be a novel mechanism by which co-lostrum modulates body immune response.
Qi SunXi ChenJianxiong YuKe ZenChen-Yu ZhangLiang Li
