Mirtron

Mirtrons are a type of microRNAs that are located in the introns of the mRNA encoding host genes. All the miRNAs in plants are derived from the sequential DCL1 cleavages from pri-miRNA to give pre-miRNA (or miRNA precursor), but the mirtrons bypass the DCL1 cleavage and enter as pre-miRNA in the miRNA maturation pathway.^[1]

Mirtrons were first identified in Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans.^[2] Now more evidence is emerging that supports the existence of mirtrons in plants. The number of mirtrons identified to date are 14, 4, and 19 in D. melanogaster, C. elegans and mammals respectively.^[1]

Mirtrons arise from the spliced-out introns and are known to function in gene expression.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Zhu, Q.-H.; Spriggs, A., Matthew, L., Fan, L., Kennedy, G., Gubler, F., Helliwell, C. (30 July 2008). "A diverse set of microRNAs and microRNA-like small RNAs in developing rice grains". Genome Research 18 (9): 1456–1465. doi:10.1101/gr.075572.107. PMC 2527712. PMID 18687877. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=2527712. 
2. ^ Ruby, JG; Jan, CH, Bartel, DP (2007 Jul 5). "Intronic microRNA precursors that bypass Drosha processing". Nature 448 (7149): 83–6. doi:10.1038/nature05983. PMC 2475599. PMID 17589500. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=2475599.