The Menu of Features that Define Primary MicroRNAs and Enable De Novo Design of MicroRNA Genes.

ABSTRACT: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small regulatory RNAs processed from stem-loop regions of primary transcripts (pri-miRNAs), with the choice of stem loops for initial processing largely determining what becomes a miRNA. To identify sequence and structural features influencing this choice, we determined cleavage efficiencies of >50,000 variants of three human pri-miRNAs, focusing on the regions intractable to previous high-throughput analyses. Our analyses revealed a mismatched motif in the basal stem region, a preference for maintaining or improving base pairing throughout the remainder of the stem, and a narrow stem-length preference of 35 ± 1 base pairs. Incorporating these features with previously identified features, including three primary-sequence motifs, yielded a unifying model defining mamm

SUBMITTER: Fang W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4613790 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature