Sunday, July 20, 2014

Biology of the RNAi pathway--Argonaute-mediated microRNA biogenesis

Yang JS, Smibert P, Westholm JO, Jee D, Maurin T, Lai EC. Intertwined pathways for Argonaute-mediated microRNA biogenesis in Drosophila. Nucleic Acids Res. 2014 Feb;42(3):1987-2002. PMID: 24220090; PMCID: PMC3919586.  

From the abstract: "Although Dicer is essential for general microRNA (miRNA) biogenesis, vertebrate mir-451 is Dicer independent. Instead, its short pre-miRNA hairpin is 'sliced' by Ago2, then 3'-resected into mature miRNAs. Here, we show that Drosophila cells and animals generate functional small RNAs from mir-451-type precursors. ... Altogether, we document unexpected aspects of miRNA biogenesis and Ago sorting, and provide insights into maturation of Argonaute-cleaved miRNA substrates."

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