Perfect seed pairing is not a generally reliable predictor for miRNA-target interactions

20 August 2006

journal article
research article
Published by Springer Nature in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology

Vol. 13 (9) , 849-851
https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb1138

Abstract

We use Caenorhabditis elegans to test proposed general rules for microRNA (miRNA)-target interactions. We show that G·U base pairing is tolerated in the 'seed' region of the lsy-6 miRNA interaction with its in vivo target cog-1, and that 6- to 8-base-pair perfect seed pairing is not a generally reliable predictor for an interaction of lsy-6 with a 3′ untranslated region (UTR). Rather, lsy-6 can functionally interact with its target site only in specific 3′ UTR contexts. Our findings illustrate the difficulty of establishing generalizable rules of miRNA-target interactions.

Keywords

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