More than meets the eye? Factors that affect target selection by plant miRNAs and heterochromatic siRNAs

Feng Wang, Seth Polydore, Michael J. Axtell

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

MicroRNAs, which target mRNAs for post-transcriptional regulation, and heterochromatic siRNAs, which target chromatin causing DNA methylation, make up the majority of the endogenous regulatory small RNA pool in most plant specimens. They both function to guide Argonaute proteins to targeted nucleic acids on the basis of complementarity. Recent work on plant miRNA-target interactions has clarified the general ''rules' of complementarity, while also providing several intriguing exceptions to these rules. In addition, emerging evidence suggests that several factors besides miRNA-target complementarity affect plant miRNA function. For heterochromatic siRNAs, recent work has made progress towards comprehensively identifying potential target regions, but numerous fundamental questions remain to be answered.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)118-124
Number of pages7
JournalCurrent Opinion in Plant Biology
Volume27
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2015

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Plant Science

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'More than meets the eye? Factors that affect target selection by plant miRNAs and heterochromatic siRNAs'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this