Workgroup Böttger

Function of non-coding RNAs in the cardiovascular system

Scientific Focus

The progress in annotation of the mammalian genome has identified non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) to be an important class of molecules encoded in the genome. The research of our group focuses on two subclasses of ncRNAs, the microRNAs (miRNAs) and the long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). We are interested to understand the functions of these molecules in the cardiovascular system and skeletal muscle and to get insight into general principles of ncRNA function.

Until now, we identified important physiological functions of miRNAs miR-143/145, miR-22, miR-206/133b and miR-1/133a (Boettger et al., 2009, Boettger & Braun 2012, Wystub et al., 2013, Schweisgut et al., 2017, Wüst et al., 2018, Valussi et al., 2021 and Klockner et al., 2022). In addition we have identified physiological functions and molecular mechanisms of the long non-coding RNAs miR22hg, linc-MYH and mitolnc (Schweisgut et al., 2017, Schutt et al., 2020, Weiss et al., 2024) in skeletal muscle and in the cardiovascular system. Some of our findings regarding the functions of ncRNAs are summarized below.

Group Members

Lucy Fleming, Theresa Hofmann, Salma Hachim, Sara Hettrich, Kerstin Richter, Qing Yin

Applications for Master- and PhD-student positions are welcome.

Further contents:

• Findings on non-coding RNA function
• Publications
• Former Group Members