Methylation as a crucial step in plant microRNA biogenesis

作者：Yu B; Yang ZY; Li JJ; Minakhina S; Yang MC; Padgett RW; Steward R; Chen XM^*

来源：Science, 2005, 307(5711): 932-935.

DOI：10.1126/science.1107130

Methylation on the base or the ribose is prevalent in eukaryotic ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) and is thought to be crucial for ribosome biogenesis and function. Artificially introduced 2'-O-methyl groups in small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) can stabilize siRNAs in serum without affecting their activities in RNA interference in mammalian cells. Here, we show that plant microRNAs (miRNAs) have a naturally occurring methyl group on the ribose of the last nucleotide. Whereas methylation of rRNAs depends on guide RNAs, the methyltransferase protein HEN1 is sufficient to methylate miRNA/miRNA* duplexes. Our studies uncover a new and crucial step in plant miRNA biogenesis and have profound implications in the function of miRNAs.

• 出版日期2005-2-11
• 单位rutgers