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Nature Neuroscience 11, 625–626 (1 June 2008) | doi:10.1038/nn0608-625

microRNA-9 multitasking near organizing centers

Celine Delaloy & Fen-Biao Gao

Some tiny RNAs, known as microRNAs (miRNAs) and barely noticed by scientists a few years ago, have recently emerged as important regulators of gene expression during animal development. Mature miRNAs are endogenous |[sim]|21-nucleotide noncoding RNAs that regulate mRNA translation or stability through sequence-specific base pairing with target 3|[prime]| untranslated regions (3|[prime]| UTRs).