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Resources » Paper

Hobert O (2004) Trends in Biochemical Sciences "Common logic of transcription factor and microRNA action."

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  • Overview

    PMID:
    15337119
    DOI:
    10.1016/j.tibs.2004.07.001
    Status:
    Publication type:
    Review
    WormBase ID:
    WBPaper00024529

    Hobert O (2004). Common logic of transcription factor and microRNA action. Trends in Biochemical Sciences, 29, 462-468. doi:10.1016/j.tibs.2004.07.001

    Over the past few years, microRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as abundant regulators of gene expression. Like many transcription factors (TFs), miRNAs are important determinants of cellular fate specification. Here I provide a conceptual framework for miRNA action in the context of creating cellular diversity in a developing organism, and emphasize the conceptual similarity of TF- and miRNA-mediated control of gene expression. Both TFs and miRNAs are trans-acting factors that exert their activity through composite cis-regulatory elements that are 'hard-wired' into DNA or RNA. TFs and miRNAs act in a largely combinatorial manner - that is, many different TFs or miRNAs control one gene - and they act cooperatively on their targets - that is, there are several cis-regulatory elements for a single TF or miRNA species in a target gene. Just as the set of TFs in a given cell type has been proposed to constitute a 'code' that specifies cellular differentiation, so 'miRNA codes' are likely to have conceptually similar roles in the specification of cell types.


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