David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
J Mol Biol. 2013 Oct 9;425(19):3582-600. doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2013.03.007. Epub 2013 Mar 13.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are key regulators of gene expression. They are conserved across species, expressed across cell types, and active against a large proportion of the transcriptome. The sequence-complementary mechanism of miRNA activity exploits combinatorial diversity, a property conducive to network-wide regulation of gene expression, and functional evidence supporting this hypothesized systems-level role has steadily begun to accumulate. The emerging models are exciting and will yield deep insight into the regulatory architecture of biology. However, because of the technical challenges facing the network-based study of miRNAs, many gaps remain. Here, we review mammalian miRNAs by describing recent advances in understanding their molecular activity and network-wide function.
微小 RNA（miRNAs）是基因表达的关键调控因子。它们在物种间保守，在各种细胞类型中表达，并针对转录组的很大一部分发挥作用。miRNA 活性的序列互补机制利用了组合多样性，这一特性有利于对基因表达进行全网络调控，并且支持这种假设的系统级作用的功能证据也在稳步积累。新兴模型令人兴奋，将深入了解生物学的调控架构。然而，由于 miRNA 基于网络的研究面临技术挑战，因此仍然存在许多空白。在这里，我们通过描述对其分子活性和全网络功能的理解方面的最新进展来综述哺乳动物 miRNAs。
