title: Small temporal RNAs in animal development.
abstract: The lin-4/miR-125 and let-7 microRNAs are at the heart of the heterochronic pathway, which controls temporal cell fate determination during Caenorhabditis elegans development. These small temporal RNAs are clustered along with a third microRNA, miR-100, in the genomes of most animals. Their conserved temporal and neural expression profile suggests a general role in cell fate determination during nervous system differentiation. By triggering consecutive differentiation programs, these microRNAs probably help to determine birth-order dependent temporal identity and thereby contribute to neural stem cell multipotency.
authors.affiliation: Indiana University, Department of Biology, Bloomington, IN 47405, United States. nsokol@indiana.edu
authors.forename: Nicholas S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Sokol
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D013256:Steroids / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; D013256:Steroids