Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 20, 2026

A Reporter Assay to Analyze Intronic microRNA Maturation in Mammalian Cells
Published on: June 16, 2022
Intronic microRNAs: a crossroad in gene regulation
1Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. natalia.gromak@path.ox.ac.uk
None:
Most human genes transcribed by RNA Pol II (polymerase II) contain short exons separated by long tracts of non-coding intronic sequences. In addition to their role in generating proteomic diversity through the process of alternative splicing, intronic sequences host many ncRNAs (non-coding RNAs), involved in various gene regulation processes. miRNAs (microRNAs) are short ncRNAs that mediate either mRNA transcript translational repression and/or degradation. Between 50 and 80% of miRNAs are encoded within introns of host mRNA genes. This observation suggests that there is co-regulation between the miRNA biogenesis and pre-mRNA splicing processes. The present review summarizes current advances in this field and discusses possible roles for intronic co-transcriptional cleavage events in the regulation of human gene expression.
Related Concept Videos
MicroRNAs
MicroRNAs
MicroRNAs
Regulation of Expression at Multiple Steps
Transcriptional Regulation: Riboswitches
Regulation of Expression Occurs at Multiple Steps
Transcription results in the generation of precursor (pre-mRNA) that consists of both exons and introns, which needs further processing before being translated to a...

