MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of ~20-24 nt long non-coding RNAs, have critical roles in diverse biological processes including devel- opment, proliferation, stress response, etc. With the development and availability...MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of ~20-24 nt long non-coding RNAs, have critical roles in diverse biological processes including devel- opment, proliferation, stress response, etc. With the development and availability of experimental technologies and computational approaches, the field of miRNA biology has advanced tremendously over the last decade. By sequence complementarity, miRNAs have been estimated to regulate certain mRNA transcripts. Although it was once thought to be simple and straightforward to find plant miR NA targets, this viewpoint is being challenged by genetic and biochemical studies. In this review, we summarize recent progress in plant miRNA target recognition mechanisms, principles of target prediction, and introduce current experimental and computational tools for plant miRNA target prediction. At the end, we also present our thinking on the outlook for future directions in the development of plant miRNA target finding methods.展开更多
基金supported by Major State Basic Research and Development Program of China (973 Program) (Grant No. 2010CB126604)NSFC (Grant No. 61272380)+1 种基金supported by NSFC (Grant No. 61173118)the Shuguang Program of Shanghai Education Foundation
文摘MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of ~20-24 nt long non-coding RNAs, have critical roles in diverse biological processes including devel- opment, proliferation, stress response, etc. With the development and availability of experimental technologies and computational approaches, the field of miRNA biology has advanced tremendously over the last decade. By sequence complementarity, miRNAs have been estimated to regulate certain mRNA transcripts. Although it was once thought to be simple and straightforward to find plant miR NA targets, this viewpoint is being challenged by genetic and biochemical studies. In this review, we summarize recent progress in plant miRNA target recognition mechanisms, principles of target prediction, and introduce current experimental and computational tools for plant miRNA target prediction. At the end, we also present our thinking on the outlook for future directions in the development of plant miRNA target finding methods.