title: A brief review on the mechanisms of miRNA regulation.
abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of short, endogenously-initiated non-coding RNAs that post-transcriptionally control gene expression via either translational repression or mRNA degradation. It is becoming evident that miRNAs are playing significant roles in regulatory mechanisms operating in various organisms, including developmental timing and host-pathogen interactions as well as cell differentiation, proliferation, apoptosis and tumorigenesis. Likewise, as a regulatory element, miRNA itself is coordinatively modulated by multifarious effectors when carrying out basic functions, such as SNP, miRNA editing, methylation and circadian clock. This mini-review summarized the current understanding of interactions between miRNAs and their targets, including recent advancements in deciphering the regulatory mechanisms that control the biogenesis and functionality of miRNAs in various cellular processes.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Genome Sciences and Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China.
authors.forename: Yimei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Xiaomin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Songnian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs