MiRNA target mimicry collection published

In a paper just out in PLoS Genetics, we report the generation of a large-scale collection of knockdowns for Arabidopsis thaliana miRNA families.

This has been achieved using artificial miRNA target mimics, a recently developed technique fashioned on an endogenous mechanism of miRNA regulation. Morphological defects in the aerial part were observed for about 20% of analyzed families, all of which are deeply conserved in land plants. In addition, we find that non-cleavable mimic sites can confer translational regulation in cis.

The target mimic constructs have all been submitted to the European Arabidopsis Stock Centre, and should be available from there soon.