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HEREDITAS ›› 2012, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (4): 383-388.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1005.2012.00383

• en •     Next Articles

Recent research progress of biogenesis and functions of miRNA

MA Sheng-Yun, BAI Yu, HAN Ning, WANG Jun-Hui, WENG Xiao-Yan, BIAN Hong-Wu, ZHU Mu-Yuan   

  1. Institution of Genetics, College of Life Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
  • Received:2011-11-11 Revised:2012-01-05 Online:2012-04-20 Published:2012-04-25

Abstract: MicroRNA*s are about 22nt noncoding RNAs, which are processed from precursors with a characteristic hairpin secondary structure in the biogenesis of microRNAs. Recently, miRNA* strands were shown to mediate post-transcriptional regulatory networks, rather than serve merely as non-functional by-product in general view. Unlike miRNAs bound to AGO1, miRNA* strands are bound to AGO2 to form RISC duplex to mediate RNAi, which is similar to siRNA. This paper mainly reviewed the recent research progresses on miRNA*, such as the biosynthesis, biological characteristics, and functions.

Key words: miRNA*, miRNA, RNAi, AGO, miR/miR* duplex