| miR-33a | |
|---|---|
Conserved secondary structure of miR-33a microRNA precursor | |
| Identifiers | |
| Symbol | miR-33a |
| Alt. Symbols | mir33a |
| Rfam | RF00667 |
| miRBase | MI0000091 |
| miRBase family | MIPF0000070 |
| NCBI Gene | 407039 |
| HGNC | 31634 |
| Other data | |
| RNA type | miRNA |
| Domain | Metazoa |
| GO | 0035195 |
| SO | 0001244 |
| Locus | Chr. 22 q13.2 |
| PDB structures | PDBe |
| miR-33b | |
|---|---|
| Identifiers | |
| Symbol | miR-33b |
| Alt. Symbols | mir33b |
| Rfam | RF00667 |
| miRBase | MI0003646 |
| miRBase family | MIPF0000070 |
| NCBI Gene | 693120 |
| HGNC | 32791 |
| Other data | |
| RNA type | miRNA |
| Domain | Metazoa |
| GO | 0035195 |
| SO | 0001244 |
| Locus | Chr. 17 13.2 |
| PDB structures | PDBe |
miR-33 is a family of microRNA precursors, which are processed by the Dicer enzyme to give mature microRNAs. miR-33 is found in several animal species, including humans. In some species there is a single member of this family which gives the mature product mir-33. In humans there are two members of this family called mir-33a and mir-33b, which are located in intronic regions within two protein-coding genes for Sterol regulatory element-binding proteins (SREBP-2 and SREBP-1) respectively.
miR-33 plays a role in lipid metabolism; it downregulates a number of ABC transporters, including ABCA1 and ABCG1, which in turn regulate cholesterol and HDL generation. Further related roles of miR-33 have been proposed in fatty acid degradation and in macrophage response to low-density lipoprotein. It has been suggested that miR-33a and miR-33b regulates genes Involved in fatty acid metabolism and insulin signalling.
Potential binding sites for mir-33 have been identified in the cDNA of tumour suppressor p53. Further, study has shown that miR-33 is able to repress p53 expression and p53-induced apoptosis. This function is thought to be related to hematopoietic stem cell renewal.
miR-33, along with miR-122, could be used to diagnose or treat conditions related to metabolic disorders and cardiovascular disease.