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Nature Genetics 41, 7–8 (1 January 2009) | doi:10.1038/ng0109-7

Searching for targets of viral microRNAs

Denise Whitby

MicroRNAs are small noncoding RNAs that post-transcriptionally 'fine-tune' mRNA expression, and in recent years they have been discovered at an ever-increasing pace in all metazoan life forms from plants to people and, most importantly for virologists, viruses. MicroRNA profiling has made great progress in revealing a role for microRNAs in embryogenesis, cellular differentiation and cancer.