title: Principles of micro-RNA production and maturation.
abstract: Micro-RNAs (miRNAs) are a class of approximately 22-nucleotide non-coding RNAs expressed in multicellular organisms. They are first transcribed in a similar manner to pre-mRNAs. The transcripts then go through a series of processing steps, including endonucleolytic cleavage, nuclear export and a strand selection procedure, to yield the single-stranded mature miRNA products. The transcription and processing of miRNAs determines the abundance and the sequence of mature miRNAs and has important implications for the function of miRNAs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. zengx033@umn.edu
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zeng
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000378:metabolism*; D012323:RNA Processing, Post-Transcriptional
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs