Authors
Zeinab Tabrizi, Reza Mansouri, Saeed Aslani, Ahmad Reza Jamshidi, Mahdi Mahmoudi
Publication date
2017/6
Description
MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a group of non-coding RNAs, are post-transcriptional regulators which are involved in many biological procedures, including development, differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis. 1 They are substantial gene expression regulators that control both physiological and pathological processes such as cancer, autoimmune diseases, and chronic inflammatory conditions. 2 miRNAs synthesis initiates by transcribing miRNA genes into primary miRNA(pri-miRNA) transcripts through either RNA polymerase II or RNA polymerase III. 3 As the hairpins are formed in pri-miRNA, it is identified by a nuclear protein known as DiGeorge syndrome critical region gene 8 (DGCR8 or Pasha) which is linked with Drosha protein, an enzyme that cuts RNA to develop the microprocessor complex. 4 In this complex, the catalytic RNase III domain of Drosha, which is oriented by DGCR8, releases the hairpins from pri-miRNAs by cleaving approximately eleven nucleotides from the hairpin base to produce pre-miRNAs. 5 After that, the pre-miR-NA with 70–90 nucleotide length is transported to the cytoplasm through exportin-5 for further processing. In the cytoplasm, Dicer, which holds RNase III enzyme activity, processes the pre-miRNA to create mature miRNA with desired function. 6 Therefore, it seems that the role of
Scholar articles
Z Tabrizi, R Mansouri, S Aslani, AR Jamshidi… - 2017