title: MicroRNA precursors are not structurally robust but plastic.
abstract: Robustness is considered a ubiquitous property of living systems at all levels of organization, and small noncoding RNA (sncRNA) is a genuine model for its study at the molecular level. In this communication, we question whether microRNA precursors (pre-miRNAs) are actually structurally robust, as previously suggested. We found that natural pre-miRNAs are not more robust than expected under an appropriate null model. On the contrary, we found that eukaryotic pre-miRNAs show a significant enrichment in conformational flexibility at the thermal equilibrium of the molecule, that is, in their plasticity. Our results further support the selection for functional diversification and evolvability in sncRNAs.
authors.forename: Guillermo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rodrigo
authors.forename: Santiago F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Elena
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012322:RNA Precursors / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; D012322:RNA Precursors