Small RNA metabolism in Arabidopsis

The Arabidopsis genome encodes two major classes of 20–24-nucleotide riboregulators: microRNAs and small interfering RNAs. These small RNAs act as sequence-specific repressors of target gene expression, either at the transcriptional level through DNA and/or histone methylation or at the post-transcriptional level through transcript cleavage or translational inhibition. Small RNAs are processed from precursor RNAs by one or more of the four DICER-LIKE RNase III enzymes, modified by HUA ENHANCER 1, a small RNA methyltransferase, and loaded onto an argonaute protein-containing RNA-induced silencing complex. Here, we review the biogenesis of small RNAs, and we discuss the major outstanding questions in small RNA metabolism and function.