Ecdysone-induced microRNA miR-276a-3p controls developmental growth by targeting the insulin-like receptor in Drosophila

Animal growth is controlled by a variety of external and internal factors during development. The steroid hormone ecdysone plays a critical role in insect development by regulating the expression of various genes. In this study, we found that fat body-specific expression of miR-276a, an ecdysone-responsive microRNA (miRNA), led to a decrease in the total mass of the larval fat body, resulting in significant growth reduction in Drosophila. Changes in miR-276a expression also affected the proliferation of Drosophila S2 cells. Furthermore, we found that the insulin-like receptor (InR) is a biologically relevant target gene regulated by miR-276a-3p. In addition, we found that miR-276a-3p is upregulated by the canonical ecdysone signalling pathway involving the ecdysone receptor and broad complex. A reduction in cell proliferation caused by ecdysone was compromised by blocking miR-276a-3p activity. Thus, our results suggest that miR-276a-3p is involved in ecdysone-mediated growth reduction by controlling InR expression in the insulin signalling pathway.