Scholl, C. R., Grosch, L., Baradei, J., Kastritis, P. L., Schoeder, C. T., & Laubinger, S.
JTrends in Plant Science. Advance online publication, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2025.07.016
Published: 15 September 2025
Abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) guide post-transcriptional gene silencing in plants and shape developmental outcomes and environmental responses by precisely tuning gene expression. miRNAs originate from primary transcripts (pri-miRNAs) whose structural features – including internal loops, mismatches, and sequence motifs – facilitate interactions with the miRNA processing complex composed of DICER-LIKE 1 (DCL1), HYPONASTIC LEAVES 1 (HYL1), and SERRATE (SE). In vitro structural analyses of DCL1, HYL1, and SE proteins have elucidated their interactions with each other and with pri-miRNAs at unprecedented resolution. These findings highlight plant-specific processing features that are distinct from those of animals and suggest new avenues for manipulating miRNA pathways. We review recent progress in understanding the structural determinants of pri-miRNA processing, knowledge that may also be valuable for future applications in crop species through targeted genome editing.
Keywords: miRNA biogenesis, DICER-LIKE 1 (DCL1), pri-miRNA, RNA secondary structure (RSS), cryo-EM
© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
This publication is a collaborative review of SNP2Prot members affiliated to projects A05 and C04.
You can read the full story here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2025.07.016