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Updated: Jun 24, 2025
06:16
mirMachine: A One-Stop Shop for Plant miRNA Annotation
Published on: May 1, 2021
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Principles of miRNA/miRNA* function in plant MIRNA processing
Santiago Rosatti1, Arantxa M L Rojas1, Belén Moro1,2
1Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario (IBR), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) and Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Rosario, Santa Fe, 2000, Argentina.
Nucleic Acids Research
|June 8, 2024
Summary
Plant microRNA (miRNA) processing depends on the miRNA/miRNA* duplex structure. Optimizing this duplex enhances miRNA levels, revealing links between structure, function, and evolution.
Area of Science:
- Plant molecular biology
- Gene regulation
- RNA biogenesis
Background:
- MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are crucial gene expression regulators.
- Plant miRNA biogenesis involves precise excision from fold-back precursors by DICER-LIKE1 (DCL1).
- Plant miRNA precursors show diverse sizes and shapes, with processing occurring in base-to-loop or loop-to-base directions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of the miRNA/miRNA* duplex region in plant miRNA precursor processing.
- To understand how duplex structure influences miRNA levels and processing efficiency.
- To connect miRNA/miRNA* structure with precursor processing mechanisms and evolution.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of endogenous miRNA precursors in vivo.
- Investigating the impact of miRNA/miRNA* duplex modifications on processing.
- Comparing processing requirements for two-step and sequential MIRNAs.
Main Results:
- Suboptimal processing of endogenous miRNAs occurs in vivo due to mismatches in the miRNA/miRNA* duplex.
- Enhancing the interaction energy of the miRNA/miRNA* duplex in two-step MIRNAs significantly increases miRNA levels.
- Sequential MIRNAs exhibit unique processing requirements dependent on specific miRNA/miRNA* duplex features.
Conclusions:
- The miRNA/miRNA* duplex structure critically influences plant miRNA precursor processing.
- Modifications in the duplex region can modulate miRNA levels.
- This study links miRNA/miRNA* structure, processing mechanisms, biological function, and evolutionary patterns in plants.
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