An abundant class of tiny RNAs with probable regulatory roles in Caenorhabditis elegans.
Two small temporal RNAs (stRNAs), lin-4 and let-7, control developmental timing in Caenorhabditis elegans. We find that these two regulatory RNAs are members of a large class of 21- to 24-nucleotide noncoding RNAs, called microRNAs (miRNAs). We report on 55 previously unknown miRNAs in C. elegans. The miRNAs have diverse expression patterns during development: a let-7 paralog is temporally coexpressed with let-7; miRNAs encoded in a single genomic cluster are coexpressed during embryogenesis; and still other miRNAs are expressed constitutively throughout development. Potential orthologs of several of these miRNA genes were identified in Drosophila and human genomes. The abundance of these tiny RNAs, their expression patterns, and their evolutionary conservation imply that, as a class, miRNAs have broad regulatory functions in animals.
Lau
N C
NC
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, and Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 9 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
Lim
L P
LP
Weinstein
E G
EG
Bartel
D P
DP
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004722:Endoribonucleases / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D016678:Genome; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012322:RNA Precursors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018510:RNA, Helminth / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D022661:RNA, Untranslated / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D043244:Ribonuclease III; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D012322:RNA Precursors; D018510:RNA, Helminth; D022661:RNA, Untranslated; D004722:Endoribonucleases; D043244:Ribonuclease III