Nuclear microRNAs and their unconventional role in regulating non-coding RNAs

作     者：Hongwei Liang Junfeng Zhang Ke Zen Chen-Yu Zhang Xi Chen 

作者机构：Jiangsu Engineering Research Center for microRNA Biology and BiotechnologyState Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical BiotechnologySchool of Life SciencesNanjing UniversityNanjing 210093China 

出 版 物：《Protein & Cell》 (蛋白质与细胞（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2013年第4卷第5期

页      面：325-330页

核心收录：

学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 0831[工学-生物医学工程（可授工学、理学、医学学位）] 1007[医学-药学(可授医学、理学学位)] 1002[医学-临床医学] 0703[理学-化学] 100214[医学-肿瘤学] 0836[工学-生物工程] 10[医学] 

基　　金：supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.81101330,31271378,81250044 and J1103512) the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province(Nos.BK2011013 and BK2012014) 

主　　题：microRNA nuclear microRNA non-coding RNA nucleus Argonaute Exportin Importin 

摘      要：MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) that are involved in post-transcriptional gene regulation. It has long been assumed that miRNAs exert their roles only in the cytoplasm, where they recognize their target protein-coding messenger RNAs (mRNAs), and result in translational repression or target mRNA degradation. Recent studies, however, have revealed that mature miRNAs can also be transported from the cytoplasm to the nucleus and that these nuclear miRNAs can function in an unconventional manner to regulate the biogenesis and functions of ncRNAs (including miRNAs and long ncRNAs), adding a new layer of complexity to our understanding of gene regulation. In this review, we summarize recent literature on the working model of these unconventional miRNAs and speculate on their biological significance. We have every reason to believe that these novel models of miRNA function will become a major research topic in gene regulation in eukaryotes.