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. 2021 Aug 23;21:445. doi: 10.1186/s12935-021-02144-y

Fig. 1.

Fig. 1

Biogenesis of miRNAs. In the nucleus, the miRNA gene is transcribed into a pri-miRNA by RNA polymerase II, and then pri-miRNAs are cleaved to pre-miRNAs by RNase III Drosha. Pre-miRNAs are transferred from the nucleus to the cytoplasm by XPO5. In the cytoplasm, pre-miRNAs are further processed to mature double-stranded miRNAs by Dicer. The mature double-stranded miRNAs unwind, and then one of the strands is degraded and the other is integrated into the RISC, which then guides it to the target mRNA. In addition, miRNAs can be secreted and regulate target gene expression via the exosomal pathway