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. 2021 Apr 23;9(5):463. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines9050463

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© 2021 by the authors.

Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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Diagram of miRNA biogenesis. In the nucleus, miRNA that are transcribed by RNA polymerase II or III as primary transcripts (pri-miRNA). The enzyme Drosha and its cofactor DGCR8/Pasha then cut the pri-miRNA molecule to form a pre-miRNA. This pre-miRNA is actively transported from the nucleus to the cytoplasm by the nuclear transport receptor Exportin 5 (XPO5) in a Ran-GTP (guanosine triphosphate) protein dependent manner by XPO5. In the cytoplasm, the pre-miRNA is cut by a second enzyme called Dicer, to form a mature and short double-stranded miRNA molecule. The miRNA duplex unwinds and is incorporated into the RISC protein complex [17].