Breaking enzymes to destroy microRNAs

Katherine McJunkin is at the Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.

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MicroRNAs help to control which proteins are generated in cells by reducing the stability and translation of specific messenger RNAs.

Because of their importance in regulating gene expression, a different set of microRNAs is expressed in each cell type, and the abundance of each microRNA is tightly controlled by its rates of generation and destruction.

Writing in Nature , Farnung et al.

1 detail a pervasive mechanism for this destruction.

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The author declares no competing interests.

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