MicroRNAs biophysically constrain behavior

By: James V. Kohl | Published on: February 28, 2018

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The link from the quantized energy of sunlight to the creation of microRNAs and biophysically constrained morphological phenotypes has been clear since 1944, when Schroedinger placed it into the context of “What is Life?”.
In the reprint edition, Roger Penrose added: “How often do we still hear that quantum effects can have little relevance in the study of biology, or even that we eat food in order to gain energy?” (Roger Penrose 8 August 1991)
Unfortunately for those who have suffered unnecessarily and died prematurely since then, biologically uninformed theorists failed to link the creation of food energy-dependent microRNAs to behavior.
But see: MicroRNA degradation by a conserved target RNA regulates animal behavior 2/26/18

…we show that a genome-encoded transcript harboring a near-perfect and deeply conserved miRNA-binding site for miR-29 controls zebrafish and mouse behavior. This transcript originated in basal vertebrates as a long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) and evolved to the protein-coding gene NREP in mammals… Thus, we demonstrate an endogenous target-RNA-directed miRNA degradation event and its requirement for animal behavior.

Claims that microRNAs regulate animal behavior were expected. The claims about the origination of a transcript and/or evolution of a protein coding gene via an endogenous near-perfect deeply conserved miRNA-binding site has not been supported by any experimental evidence.
Similar claims about evolved differences in amino acids and proteins have not been linked to behavior. In this case, however, the claim about the evolution of a near-perfect miRNA-binding site dismisses everything known to serious scientists about the food energy-dependent pheromone-controlled physiology of reproduction that we detailed in our section on molecular epigenetics from this 1996 review: From Fertilization to Adult Sexual Behavior.
In 1996, microRNAs were called pre-mRNAs and we linked them to alternative splicings of RNA and behavior in species from microbes to humans. The cell biology game “Cytosis” linked the alternative splicings of RNA to food energy-dependent pheromone-controlled biophysically constrained viral latency in the context of the creation of enzymes, hormones, and receptors.
The link from the energy-dependent creation of microRNAs to behavior still must be placed into the context of what is known to all serious scientists. See: RNA: Structure meets function conference and 4th International Congress on Epigenetics & Chromatin, which was announced as if it was a conference on emergence and evolution.

Emergence and evolution are not discussed by serious scientists who read the extant literature such as this: Consequences of RNA oxidation on protein synthesis rate and fidelity: implications for the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric disorders 10/15/17

…a discovery of oxidized microRNA has been recently reported. The oxidized microRNA causes misrecognizing the target mRNAs and subsequent down-regulation in the protein synthesis. It is noteworthy that oxidative modification to RNA not only interferes with the translational machinery but also with regulatory mechanisms of noncoding RNAs that contribute toward the biological complexity of the mammalian brain.

Molecular genetic mechanisms of allelic specific regulation of murine Comt expression (2015)

…our data demonstrate that the Comt⁺ transcript contains regulatory miRNA signals in its 3′-untranslated region leading to mRNA degradation; these signals, however, are absent in the shorter transcript, resulting in higher mRNA expression and activity levels.

COMT val158met polymorphism and molecular alterations in the human dorsolateral prefrontal cortex: Differences in controls and in schizophrenia (2016)
Catechol O-methyltransferase (COMT) functional haplotype is associated with recurrence of affective symptoms: A prospective birth cohort study (2018)

Combination of the COMT functional haplotype model and inverted-U model may shed light on the effect of dopaminergic regulation on the trajectory of affective symptoms over the life course.

Analysis of COMT Val158Met polymorphisms and methylation in Chinese male schizophrenia patients with homicidal behavior (2018)

…we showed that the Val allele at Val158Met (rs4680) may be associated with the homicidal behavior of schizophrenia patients as well as that the methylation level of Val158Met (rs4680) could be affected by the variation of Val158Met (rs4680) and eventually contribute to the violent behavior of schizophrenia patients.

Facts about interethnic differences and similarities that link now microRNAs to behavior were discussed in the context of Global variation in the frequencies of functionally different catechol-O-methyltransferase alleles (1999)
The COMT val158met polymorphism was not found in seven nonhuman primates. One gorilla, two chimpanzees, two bonobos, and two orangutans had the G nucleotide at the variable position in the COMT gene, which codes for the amino acid valine in the COMT protein. The difference in non-human primates and modern humans was not linked to interethnic similarities or differences in COMT val158met polymorphisms. That may explain why the differences were not linked from dietary differences to behavior via the creation of food energy-dependent microRNAs.
But see: The Gut Microbiome and Mental Health: Implications for Anxiety- and Trauma-Related Disorders
Reported as: Microbiota-gut-brain axis is at epicenter of new approach to mental health
The approach is not new. See: Feedback loops link odor and pheromone signaling with reproduction (2005)
Remember: Nobody wants to belong to the party of losers. One of the best strategies in such a case is evidently an interpretation of the change as a gradual accumulation of knowledge while their work has always been at the cutting edge. — Kalevi Kull
Place that claim into the context of the comment by Roger Penrose: “How often do we still hear that quantum effects can have little relevance in the study of biology, or even that we eat food in order to gain energy?”
If the human idiocy touted by neo-Darwinian theorists and big bang cosmologists is not perfectly clear, see: