Circadian regulation of a limited set of microRNAs in Drosophila

We used a microarray platform to survey the daily levels of 78 D. melanogaster miRNAs in adult heads of wildtype control flies and the arrhythmic clock mutant cyc01. At least 2 miRNAs were identified that showed robust daily abundance changes in control flies but not the cyc01 mutant. Keywords: microRNA, Circadian regulation yw and yw;cyc01 flies were maintained in standard media. For collections, approximately 50-100 young (2-5 day old) flies were placed in vials that were incubated at 25oC for four days in standard 12hr light-12hr dark cycles [LD; where zeitgeber time 0 (ZT0) is defined as lights-on]. Flies were collected by freezing in dry ice during the fourth LD cycle at the following times; ZT1, 7, 13 and 19. Subsequently low molecular RNAs were extracted for microarray analysis using a mirMAX microarray.