Demonstrating polymorphic miRNA-mediated gene regulation in vivo: application to the g+6223G->A mutation of Texel sheep.

We herein describe the development of a biochemical method to evaluate the effect of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in target genes on their regulation by microRNAs in vivo. The method is based on the detection of allelic imbalance in RNAs coimmunoprecipitated with AGO proteins from tissues of heterozygous individuals. We characterize the performances of our approach using a model system in a cell culture, and then apply it successfully to prove that the 3'UTR g+6223G-->A mutation operates by promoting RISC-dependent down-regulation of myostatin (MSTN) in skeletal muscle of Texel sheep.