Genes & Development 16: 1025-1031 (2002)

Why do miRNAs live in the miRNP?

Dianne S. Schwarz and Phillip D. Zamore

In Figure 2, panel A, Gemin4 was inadvertently labeled as Gemin2. The corrected figure is printed below along with its legend.

View larger version (29K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 2.   Models for miRNA biogenesis and function. (A) Dicer may cleave a single-stranded miRNA directly from its stem-loop precursor RNA, then transfer the mature miRNA to components of the miRNP. Alternatively, Dicer may initially generate a double-stranded siRNA, then transfer it to the miRNP. Protein components of the miRNP would then unwind the siRNA, select one strand of the siRNA to become the mature, single-stranded miRNA, and catalyze degradation of the other siRNA strand. (B) In the RNAi pathway, a perfectly complementary siRNA targets mRNA for endonucleolytic cleavage. In contrast, miRNAs pair only imperfectly with sequences in the 3' UTRs of their target RNAs and are believed to repress mRNA translation without altering mRNA stability.