Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Science. 2011 Feb 4;331(6017):550-3. doi: 10.1126/science.1191138.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) act with the Argonaute family of proteins to regulate target messenger RNAs (mRNAs) posttranscriptionally. SiRNAs typically induce endonucleolytic cleavage of mRNA with near-perfect complementarity. For targets with less complementarity, both translational repression and mRNA destabilization mechanisms have been implicated in miRNA-mediated gene repression, although the timing, coupling, and relative importance of these events have not been determined. Here, we review gene-specific and global approaches that probe miRNA function and mechanism, looking for a unifying model. More systematic analyses of the molecular specificities of the core components coupled with analysis of the relative timing of the different events will ultimately shed light on the mechanism of miRNA-mediated repression.
微小 RNA（miRNAs）和小干扰 RNA（siRNAs）与 Argonaute 蛋白家族一起作用，在后转录水平调节靶信使 RNA（mRNA）。siRNAs 通常诱导与靶 mRNA 近乎完全互补的内切核酸酶切割。对于互补性较低的靶标，miRNA 介导的基因抑制既涉及翻译抑制，也涉及 mRNA 不稳定性机制，尽管这些事件的时间、偶联和相对重要性尚未确定。在这里，我们综述了探测 miRNA 功能和机制的基因特异性和全局方法，以期找到一个统一的模型。与不同事件相对时间分析相结合的核心成分的分子特异性的更系统分析将最终阐明 miRNA 介导抑制的机制。
