RNA Binding Proteins in the miRNA Pathway

Patrick Connerty; Alireza Ahadi; Gyorgy Hutvagner

doi:10.3390/ijms17010031

RNA Binding Proteins in the miRNA Pathway

Int J Mol Sci. 2015 Dec 26;17(1):31. doi: 10.3390/ijms17010031.

Authors

Patrick Connerty¹, Alireza Ahadi², Gyorgy Hutvagner³

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Science 1, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia. patrick.connerty@student.uts.edu.au.
² Faculty of Engineering and Information technology 2, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia. alireza.ahadi@uts.edu.au.
³ Faculty of Engineering and Information technology 2, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia. gyorgy.hutvagner@uts.edu.au.

Abstract

microRNAs (miRNAs) are short ~22 nucleotides (nt) ribonucleic acids which post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression. miRNAs are key regulators of all cellular processes, and the correct expression of miRNAs in an organism is crucial for proper development and cellular function. As a result, the miRNA biogenesis pathway is highly regulated. In this review, we outline the basic steps of miRNA biogenesis and miRNA mediated gene regulation focusing on the role of RNA binding proteins (RBPs). We also describe multiple mechanisms that regulate the canonical miRNA pathway, which depends on a wide range of RBPs. Moreover, we hypothesise that the interaction between miRNA regulation and RBPs is potentially more widespread based on the analysis of available high-throughput datasets.

Keywords: Argonaute; Dicer; Drosha; RNA binding protein; cross-linking and immonoprecipitation (CLIP); miRNA.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Argonaute Proteins / metabolism*
Gene Silencing
Humans
MicroRNAs / genetics*
MicroRNAs / metabolism
Protein Binding
Ribonuclease III / metabolism*

Substances

Argonaute Proteins
MicroRNAs
Ribonuclease III