Retinoic acid-induced upregulation of miR-219 promotes the differentiation of embryonic stem cells into neural cells

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate critical cell processes, such as apoptosis, proliferation, and development. However, the role of miRNAs in embryonic stem cell (ESC) neural differentiation induced by retinoic acid (RA) and factors that govern neural directional differentiation remain poorly understood. In this study, we demonstrated that miR-219 is sufficient in promoting mouse ESCs to undergo neural differentiation. We discovered that Foxj3 and Zbtb18, two target genes of miR-219, are not able to determine the process of RA-induced differentiation, however they prevent ESCs from differentiating into neural cells. We identified four downstream genes, namely, Olig1, Zic5, Erbb2, and Olig2, which are essential to the gene interaction networks for neural differentiation. These data explain the mechanism of RA-induced neural differentiation of mESCs on the basis of miRNAs and support the crucial role of miR-219 in neurodevelopment.