Endogenous small RNA clusters in plants.
In plants, small RNAs (sRNAs) usually refer to non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) with lengths of 20-24 nucleotides. sRNAs are involved in the regulation of many essential processes related to plant development and environmental responses. sRNAs in plants are mainly grouped into microRNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), and the latter can be further classified into trans-acting siRNAs (ta-siRNAs), repeat-associated siRNAs (ra-siRNAs), natural anti-sense siRNAs (nat-siRNAs), etc. Many sRNAs exhibit a clustered distribution pattern in the genome. Here, we summarize the features and functions of cluster-distributed sRNAs, aimed to not only provide a thorough picture of sRNA clusters (SRCs) in plants, but also shed light on the identification of new classes of functional sRNAs.
State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Yong-Xin
YX
Liu
State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Meng
M
Wang
State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China. Electronic address: xjwang@genetics.ac.cn.
Xiu-Jie
XJ
Wang
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics; D005810:Multigene Family; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012322:RNA Precursors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018749:RNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
D035683:MicroRNAs; D012322:RNA Precursors; D018749:RNA, Plant; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering
Expression pattern; MicroRNA; Small RNA cluster; siRNA