A Genomic Portrait of the Genetic Architecture and Regulatory Impact of microRNA Expression in Response to Infection (functional investigation of the role of miR-29)

Investigation of the role of miR-29 on transcriptional responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection in human dendritic cells using gain- and loss-of-function approaches and microarray expression profiling. We assessed the impact of miR-29 perturbation on mRNA expression levels before and after MTB infection in dendritic cells using cells collected from 4 unrelated individuals. Cells were transfected using either a miR-29a mimic or miR-29 family inhibitor before infection with H37Rv for 24 hours. Gene expression was profiled by array and 4 technical replicates were performed to confirm reproducibility.