microRNAs in action: biogenesis, function and regulation

In this Review, the authors describe how the application of new technologies to the microRNA (miRNA) field has yielded key insights into miRNA biology. The authors summarize our current understanding of miRNA biogenesis, function and processing, and highlight challenges to address in future research. Ever since microRNAs (miRNAs) were first recognized as an extensive gene family >20 years ago, a broad community of researchers was drawn to investigate the universe of small regulatory RNAs. Although core features of miRNA biogenesis and function were revealed early on, recent years continue to uncover fundamental information on the structural and molecular dynamics of core miRNA machinery, how miRNA substrates and targets are selected from the transcriptome, new avenues for multilevel regulation of miRNA biogenesis and mechanisms for miRNA turnover. Many of these latest insights were enabled by recent technological advances, including massively parallel assays, cryogenic electron microscopy, single-molecule imaging and CRISPR-Cas9 screening. Here, we summarize the current understanding of miRNA biogenesis, function and regulation, and outline challenges to address in the future.

Automated summary

In this Review, the authors discuss how new technologies have advanced our understanding of miRNA biology. They provide an overview of miRNA biogenesis, function, and processing, and highlight the challenges for future research.