Reference "Identification of 20 microRNAs from Oryza sativa"

Reference ID

8240

Title

Identification of 20 microRNAs from Oryza sativa

Source

Nucleic acids research, 2004, vol. 32, pp. 1688-1695

Authors (5)

Wang-J-F	Zhou-H
Chen-Y-Q	Luo-Q-J
Qu-L-H

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are present in both plant and animal kingdoms and represents
a growing family of non-coding RNAs. These tiny RNAs act as small guides and
direct negative regulations usually in the process of development through
sequence complementarity to target mRNAs. Although a large number of miRNAs have
been identified from various animals, so far plant miRNA studies have focused
mainly on Arabidopsis. Here we describe the identification of 20 miRNAs from a
rice cDNA library. All the miRNAs were presumably processed from precursors with
stem-loop structures and were positively detected in rice cells from at least
one tissue, some of which showed tissue-specific expression. Twenty-three unique
rice genes were identified to be feasible targets for seven rice miRNAs,
including four members of Scarecrow-like transcription factor, the targets of
miR-39 that had been characterized in Arabidopsis. Lacking long complementarity,
the regulatory targets of 13 miRNAs remain to be further investigated. A
possible mechanism of translational repressor for plant miRNAs that lack perfect
complementarity to target mRNAs is discussed.