Abstract
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are 21–24 nucleotide riboregulators, which selectively repress gene expression through transcript cleavage and/or translational inhibition. It was thought that most plant miRNAs act through target transcript cleavage due to the high degree of complementarity between miRNAs and their targets. However, recent studies have suggested widespread translational inhibition by miRNAs in plants. The mechanisms underlining translational inhibition by plant miRNAs are largely unknown, but existing evidence has indicated that plants and animals share some mechanistic similarity of translational inhibition. Translational inhibition by miRNAs has been shown to regulate floral patterning, floral timing, and stress responses. This chapter covers recent progress on plant miRNA-mediated translational control.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Dr. Xuemei Chen from University of California, Riverside, for critical comments on this manuscript and Dr. Heriberto D. Cerutti from University of Nebraska, Lincoln, for sharing unpublished data. We also apologize to colleagues whose works were not discussed here due to space limitation.
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Yu, B., Wang, H. (2010). Translational Inhibition by MicroRNAs in Plants. In: Rhoads, R. (eds) miRNA Regulation of the Translational Machinery. Progress in Molecular and Subcellular Biology(), vol 50. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03103-8_3
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