A tiny helper lightens the maternal load.
In a recent issue of Science, the puzzle of how a large number of maternal mRNAs can be coordinately destroyed at the mid-blastula transition of early animal embryogenesis is solved. The mysterious agent is not a protein but rather a microRNA that is transcribed at this transition point.
Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany. weigel@weigelworld.org
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D000818:Animals; D036703:Blastula / Q000502:physiology*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs; D012323:RNA Processing, Post-Transcriptional; D043244:Ribonuclease III / Q000502:physiology*; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000196:embryology
D035683:MicroRNAs; D043244:Ribonuclease III