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Non-coding RNAs: The small mysteries of males

Cells associated with the male germlines of grasses produce huge amounts of small RNAs. A large survey of two types of small RNA in maize uncovers unique characteristics associated with male fertility, but the molecular mechanism by which these germline-associated small RNAs function remains unclear.

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Figure 1: More similar than we think? Grass phasiRNAs and mammalian piRNAs are both associated with male fertility.

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Correspondence to Michael J. Axtell.

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Axtell, M. Non-coding RNAs: The small mysteries of males. Nature Plants 1, 15055 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nplants.2015.55

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