MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in human brain development and maintenance. To search for miRNAs potentially involved with molecular mechanisms in the pathogenesis of Parkinsons disease (PD), we utilized miRNA microarrays to identify expression changes of 115 annotated Caenorhabditis elegans (C.elegans) miRNAs in human -synuclein A53T transgenic, dopamine deficient catecholamine transporter gene
cat-1 mutant and parkin gene
pdr-1 mutant C.elegans strains. Twelve miRNAs were found regulated differentially in -synuclein transgenic C. elegans, five in
cat-1 mutants and three in
pdr-1 mutants. The family of miR64/65 appeared co-under-expressed in -synuclein and
cat-1 strains and members of
let-7 family co-under-expressed (except miR-241 over-expressed) in a-synuclein and
pdr-1 strains. Class H serpentine receptor (srh) family of G-protein-coupled receptor genes were computationally identified to be highly over-represented target candidates for regulated miRNAs.These results indicate that miRNAs are misregulated in C. elegans PD models and suggest a role for these molecules in the disease pathogenesis.