Principles and effects of microRNA-mediated post-transcriptional gene regulation

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are abundant regulatory RNAs involved in the regulation of many key biological processes. Recent advances in understanding the mechanism of RNA interference and miRNA-mediated mechanisms shed light on major principals of the formation of the regulatory complex and provide models to explain how these small regulatory RNA species interfere with gene expression and how they influence the translational status of the transcriptome.