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Mirtrons, an emerging class of atypical miRNA
Author(s) -
Curtis Helen J.,
Sibley Christopher R.,
Wood Matthew J. A.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
wiley interdisciplinary reviews: rna
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.225
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1757-7012
pISSN - 1757-7004
DOI - 10.1002/wrna.1122
Subject(s) - rna interference , biology , gene silencing , microrna , biogenesis , effector , argonaute , dicer , gene , genetics , computational biology , rna splicing , rna , rna silencing , ribonuclease iii , regulation of gene expression , microbiology and biotechnology
Post‐transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) via RNA interference (RNAi) is a vital gene regulatory mechanism for fine‐tuning gene expression. RNAi effectors termed microRNAs (miRNAs) are implicated in various aspects of animal development and normal physiological function, while dysregulation has been linked to several pathologies. Several atypical miRNA biogenesis pathways have been identified, yet in most cases the reasons for their emergence remain unclear. One of these atypical pathways is the mirtron pathway, where short introns are excised by splicing to generate intermediates of the RNAi pathway, with no cleavage by the microprocessor. Closely related pathways involving tailed‐mirtron and simtron biogenesis have also been described. There is extensive evidence that mirtrons function as miRNAs, and while some are evolutionarily conserved across similar species, others appear to have emerged relatively recently. In addition, through exploitation of the potent and sequence‐specific silencing capabilities of RNAi, synthetic mirtrons may have potential for overcoming certain therapeutic challenges. WIREs RNA 2012 doi: 10.1002/wrna.1122 This article is categorized under: Regulatory RNAs/RNAi/Riboswitches > Biogenesis of Effector Small RNAs