Drosha in Primary MicroRNA Processing

Abstract

MicroRNA (miRNA)-mediated gene silencing is one of the major regulatory pathways in eukaryotes. Much effort has beenmade to identify the factors involved in the pathway, and our understanding of RNA silencing has significantly advanced inrecent years. Our group has been working on some of the issues regarding miRNA biogenesis and, in this paper, we summarizewhat we and other workers in the field have learned thus far. The focus remains on the role of Drosha and DGCR8 in theearly events of miRNA biogenesis in animals.