Open AccessMicroRNAs: more than a role in plant development?
Author(s) -
LLAVE CESAR
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
molecular plant pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.945
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1364-3703
pISSN - 1464-6722
DOI - 10.1111/j.1364-3703.2004.00227.x
Subject(s) - biology , dicer , microrna , gene , genetics , rna interference , rna , ribonuclease iii , gene expression , computational biology , non coding rna , small rna , regulation of gene expression , microbiology and biotechnology
SUMMARY Eukaryotic small RNA comprises several classes of 21–25 nucleotide non‐coding RNA, of which microRNA (miRNA) has gained a great deal of attention because it is directly involved in controlling growth and development in plants. miRNAs are processed by the RNase III‐like Dicer , although recent studies have implicated additional gene products in the step‐wise maturation of miRNAs from their primary nuclear transcripts. They function as sequence‐specific guides to trigger cleavage or translational repression of target mRNAs that have complementary sequences. Natural miRNA targets encode members of large families of transcription factors, which are collectively required for a number of developmental processes. In addition to developmental regulation, some miRNAs might be involved in specific physiological responses to several types of stresses, such as those induced by pathogen infections. Strikingly, the potyviruses, the largest group of plant RNA viruses, are able to interfere with miRNA‐guided cleavage of multiple regulatory targets in plants, thus modulating gene expression of the host cell.