Volume 18, No 10, Oct 2008

ISSN: 1001-0602 
EISSN: 1748-7838 2018 
impact factor 17.848* 
(Clarivate Analytics, 2019)

Volume 18 Issue 10, October 2008: 986-996

REVIEWS

The evolution and functional diversification of animal microRNA genes

Na Liu, Katsutomo Okamura, David M Tyler, Michael D Phillips, Wei-Jen Chung and Eric C Lai

Department of Developmental Biology, Sloan-Kettering Institute, 521 Rockefeller Research Laboratories, 1275 York Avenue, Box 252, New York, NY 10065, USA Correspondence: Eric C Lai(laie@mskcc.org)

microRNAs (miRNAs) are an abundant class of 22 nucleotide (nt) regulatory RNAs that are pervasive in higher eukaryotic genomes. In order to fully understand their prominence in genomes, it is necessary to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that can diversify miRNA activities. In this review, we describe some of the many strategies that allow novel miRNA functions to emerge, with particular emphasis on how miRNA genes evolve in animals. These mechanisms include changes in their sequence, processing, or expression pattern; acquisition of miRNA* functionality or antisense processing; and de novo gene birth. The facility and versatility of miRNAs to evolve and change likely underlies how they have become dominant constituents of higher genomes.

Cell Research (2008) 18:985-996. doi: 10.1038/cr.2008.278; published online 19 August 2008

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