Mallory Allison C, Vaucheret Hervé
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, 9 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA.
Nat Genet. 2006 Jun;38 Suppl:S31-6. doi: 10.1038/ng1791.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) and short interfering RNAs (siRNAs), 20- to 27-nt in length, are essential regulatory molecules that act as sequence-specific guides in several processes in most eukaryotes (with the notable exception of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae). These processes include DNA elimination, heterochromatin assembly, mRNA cleavage and translational repression. This review focuses on the regulatory roles of plant miRNAs during development, in the adaptive response to stresses and in the miRNA pathway itself. This review also covers the regulatory roles of two classes of endogenous plant siRNAs, ta-siRNAs and nat-siRNAs, which participate in post-transcriptional control of gene expression.
微小RNA（miRNA）和小干扰RNA（siRNA）长度为20至27个核苷酸，是重要的调节分子，在大多数真核生物的多个过程中作为序列特异性引导物发挥作用（酿酒酵母是明显的例外）。这些过程包括DNA消除、异染色质组装、mRNA切割和翻译抑制。本综述重点关注植物miRNA在发育过程中、对胁迫的适应性反应以及miRNA途径本身中的调节作用。本综述还涵盖了两类内源性植物siRNA，即反式作用siRNA（ta-siRNA）和顺式作用天然反义转录本来源的siRNA（nat-siRNA）的调节作用，它们参与基因表达的转录后调控。
