title: MicroRNAs: target recognition and regulatory functions.
abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous approximately 23 nt RNAs that play important gene-regulatory roles in animals and plants by pairing to the mRNAs of protein-coding genes to direct their posttranscriptional repression. This review outlines the current understanding of miRNA target recognition in animals and discusses the widespread impact of miRNAs on both the expression and evolution of protein-coding genes.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. dbartel@wi.mit.edu
authors.forename: David P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Bartel
mesh_terms: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D035683:MicroRNAs