Sheng Xi-Hui, Du Li-Xin
Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100094, China.
Yi Chuan. 2007 Jun;29(6):651-8. doi: 10.1360/yc-007-0651.
MicroRNAs, a class of noncoding RNA of approximately 22 nucleotides, can regulate gene expression by binding to the region of 3' UTR of the target mRNAs. To date, it has been demonstrated for organism that miRNAs play an important role in growth, development,and occurrence of disease. This paper introduces the character and the active mechanism of miRNAs, and the newest progress in the research on the function of microRNA, the identification of microRNA gene and the prediction of target gene also are summarized here.
微小RNA是一类长度约为22个核苷酸的非编码RNA，可通过与靶mRNA的3'UTR区域结合来调控基因表达。迄今为止，已有研究表明，微小RNA在生物体的生长、发育和疾病发生过程中发挥着重要作用。本文介绍了微小RNA的特征和作用机制，并总结了微小RNA功能研究的最新进展、微小RNA基因的鉴定以及靶基因的预测。
