Fig. 3.

MiR-21 direct targeting HPGD mRNA. a Three predicted miR-21 targeting sites (E1, E2, E3) are located in the 3′-UTR of HPGD mRNA. The numbers under the diagram are the starting bp-position of the seed regions for the miR-21 targeting sites. The base-pairing and the minimum free energy (mfe) for the binding of miR-21 to the targeting sequences were predicted using the RNAhybrid program [18]. b Dual luciferase reporter assays were performed to test the interaction of miR-21 and its targeting sequences in the HPGD mRNA using constructs containing the predicted targeting sequences (pGL-E1 and pGL-E2E3) and mutated targeting sequences (pGL-E1m, pGL-E2mE3, pGL-E2E3m, pGL-E2mE3m) cloned into the 3′-UTR of the reporter gene. Data represent at least 3 independent experiments with similar results. *: p < 0.05