Transcriptional control of microRNA expression in C-elegans Promoting better understanding

Transcriptional regulation of microRNA (miRNA) expression is one of the least understood aspects of miRNA biogenesis. In C elegans the list of miRNAs whose transcriptional control has been described in some detail is currently limited to four: let-7, lin-4, lsy-6, and mir-61. Each of these genes has been shown experimentally to be transcriptionaly regulated by cis- and/or trans-acting factors that either promote or inhibit expression. Additionally, computational methods based on conservation among miRNA genes have yielded predicted regulatory sequences in C elegans that may function to regulate miRNA expression on a genome-wide scale.