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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Dec 1.
Published in final edited form as: Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2014 Aug 28;30(6):910–917. doi: 10.1093/ndt/gfu280

Figure 1. Biogenesis and Function of miRNAs.

Figure 1

Briefly, the primary transcript is transcribed and further processed into the precursor miRNA (pre-RNA) by Drosha, a RNase III enzyme in the nucleus. After export to the cytoplasm, Dicer (another RNase III enzyme) cleaves off the loop of the hairpin and generates a double-stranded RNA. Subsequently the mature miRNA strand binds to a member of the AGO protein family together with Dicer and a dsRNA-binding domain protein such as TRBP building the RNA-induced silencing complex (miRISC)). After mRNA target binding the miRISC complex induce mRNA target degradation or inhibition of protein translation.