Steeman, Tomás JoséRubiolo Gaytán, Juan AndrésSánchez Piñón, LauraCalcaterra, Nora B.Weiner, Andrea2021-07-302021-07-302021Genes 2021, 12(7), 1023; https://doi.org/10.3390/genes12071023http://hdl.handle.net/10347/26653The neural crest is a multipotent cell population that develops from the dorsal neural fold of vertebrate embryos in order to migrate extensively and differentiate into a variety of tissues. A number of gene regulatory networks coordinating neural crest cell specification and differentiation have been extensively studied to date. Although several publications suggest a common role for microRNA-145 (miR-145) in molecular reprogramming for cell cycle regulation and/or cellular differentiation, little is known about its role during in vivo cranial neural crest development. By modifying miR-145 levels in zebrafish embryos, abnormal craniofacial development and aberrant pigmentation phenotypes were detected. By whole-mount in situ hybridization, changes in expression patterns of col2a1a and Sry-related HMG box (Sox) transcription factors sox9a and sox9b were observed in overexpressed miR-145 embryos. In agreement, zebrafish sox9b expression was downregulated by miR-145 overexpression. In silico and in vivo analysis of the sox9b 3′UTR revealed a conserved potential miR-145 binding site likely involved in its post-transcriptional regulation. Based on these findings, we speculate that miR-145 participates in the gene regulatory network governing zebrafish chondrocyte differentiation by controlling sox9b expressioneng© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Atribución 4.0 Internacionalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/MicroRNANeural crestGene regulatory networkEmbryonic developmentjournal article10.3390/genes120710232073-4425open access