A microRNA (miRNA) is a short, non-coding RNA. miRNA molecules are complementary to parts of mRNA sequences and regulate gene expression by binding to mRNA to inhibit protein translation
miRNAs show very different characteristics between plants and metazoans. In plants the miRNA complementarity to its mRNA target is nearly perfect, with no or few mismatched bases. In metazoans on the other hand miRNA complementarity is far from perfect and one miRNA can target many different sites on the same mRNA or on many different mRNAs.
Another difference is the location of target sites on mRNAs. In metazoans the miRNA target sites are in the three prime untranslated regions (3'UTR) of the mRNA. In plants targets can be located in the 3' UTR but are more often in the coding region itself. MiRNAs are well conserved in eukaryotic organisms and are thought to be a vital and evolutionarily ancient component of genetic regulation.
miRNAs show very different characteristics between plants and metazoans. In plants the miRNA complementarity to its mRNA target is nearly perfect, with no or few mismatched bases. In metazoans on the other hand miRNA complementarity is far from perfect and one miRNA can target many different sites on the same mRNA or on many different mRNAs.
Another difference is the location of target sites on mRNAs. In metazoans the miRNA target sites are in the three prime untranslated regions (3'UTR) of the mRNA. In plants targets can be located in the 3' UTR but are more often in the coding region itself. MiRNAs are well conserved in eukaryotic organisms and are thought to be a vital and evolutionarily ancient component of genetic regulation.
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