Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are ∼21-nucleotide-long RNA molecules regulating gene expression in multicellular eukaryotes. In metazoa, miRNAs act by imperfectly base-pairing with the 3′ untranslated region of target messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and repressing protein accumulation by an unknown mechanism. We demonstrate that endogenous let-7 microribonucleoproteins (miRNPs) or the tethering of Argonaute (Ago) proteins to reporter mRNAs in human cells inhibit translation initiation. M 7 G-cap-independent translation is not subject to repression, suggesting that miRNPs interfere with recognition of the cap. Repressed mRNAs, Ago proteins, and miRNAs were all found to accumulate in processing bodies. We propose that localization of mRNAs to these structures is a consequence of translational repression.

Keywords

ArgonauteTranslation (biology)microRNABiologyCell biologyPsychological repressionMessenger RNAUntranslated regionThree prime untranslated regionRNAGene expressionMolecular biologyGeneticsGeneRNA interference

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Publication Info

Year
2005
Type
article
Volume
309
Issue
5740
Pages
1573-1576
Citations
1405
Access
Closed

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Ramesh S. Pillai, Suvendra N. Bhattacharyya, Caroline G. Artus et al. (2005). Inhibition of Translational Initiation by Let-7 MicroRNA in Human Cells. Science , 309 (5740) , 1573-1576. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1115079

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DOI
10.1126/science.1115079