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Cutting down Scarecrows
Genome Biology volume 3, Article number: spotlight-20020920-01 (2002)
Micro-RNAs (miRNAs) have been found in plants, animals and microorganisms, but very few have been functionally characterized. In the September 20 Science, Llave et al. describe a specific function for the Arabidopsis miRNA 39, which accumulates in inflorescence tissue and is produced from an intergenic region in chromosome III (Science 2002, 297:2053-2056). The miRNA 39 sequence is perfectly complementary to an internal sequence in mRNAs encoding three members of the Scarecrow-like (SCL) transcription factor family. Llave et al. show that miRNA 39 guides the internal cleavage of target SCL mRNAs; they propose that miRNA 39 activity might involve the RISC complex (RNA-induced silencing complex) used in RNA silencing.
References
microRNAs: tiny regulators with great potential.
Science , [http://www.sciencemag.org]
Endogenous and Silencing-Associated Small RNAs in Plants
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Weitzman, J.B. Cutting down Scarecrows. Genome Biol 3, spotlight-20020920-01 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-spotlight-20020920-01
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-spotlight-20020920-01
Keywords
- Transcription Factor
- Specific Function
- Intergenic Region
- Factor Family
- Transcription Factor Family