MicroRNAs are short ~22nt in length, yet important non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression. Plant miRNAs have highly complementary recognition sites on their targets, which is considered to be a prominent feature of cleavage-guided repression.
Plant miRNA Targets
This binding results in cleavage or translation inhibition of the target mRNAs. miRNAs play critical role in several essential biological processes, such as proliferation, metabolism, differentiation, development, apoptosis and cellular signaling. Hence, dysfunction of specific miRNAs is associated with variety of diseases.
Plant miRNA and network analysis
The information about miRNA mediated network perturbations gives us better understanding on functions of miRNAs in different biological pathways.