The nuclear RNase III Drosha initiates microRNA processing

Lee, R. C., Feinbaum, R. L. & Ambros, V. The C. elegans heterochronic gene lin-4 encodes small RNAs with antisense complementarity to lin-14. Cell 75, 843–854 (1993)

Reinhart, B. J. et al. The 21-nucleotide let-7 RNA regulates developmental timing in Caenorhabditis elegans. Nature 403, 901–906 (2000)

Lagos-Quintana, M., Rauhut, R., Lendeckel, W. & Tuschl, T. Identification of novel genes coding for small expressed RNAs. Science 294, 853–858 (2001)

Lau, N. C., Lim, L. P., Weinstein, E. G. & Bartel, D. P. An abundant class of tiny RNAs with probable regulatory roles in Caenorhabditis elegans. Science 294, 858–862 (2001)

Lee, R. C. & Ambros, V. An extensive class of small RNAs in Caenorhabditis elegans. Science 294, 862–864 (2001)

Mourelatos, Z. et al. miRNPs: a novel class of ribonucleoproteins containing numerous microRNAs. Genes Dev. 16, 720–728 (2002)

Llave, C., Kasschau, K. D., Rector, M. A. & Carrington, J. C. Endogenous and silencing-associated small RNAs in plants. Plant Cell 14, 1605–1619 (2002)

Reinhart, B. J., Weinstein, E. G., Rhoades, M. W., Bartel, B. & Bartel, D. P. MicroRNAs in plants. Genes Dev. 16, 1616–1626 (2002)

Lagos-Quintana, M. et al. Identification of tissue-specific microRNAs from mouse. Curr. Biol. 12, 735–739 (2002)

Park, W., Li, J., Song, R., Messing, J. & Chen, X. CARPEL FACTORY, a Dicer homolog, and HEN1, a novel protein, act in microRNA metabolism in Arabidopsis thaliana. Curr. Biol. 12, 1484–1495 (2002)

Llave, C., Xie, Z., Kasschau, K. D. & Carrington, J. C. Cleavage of Scarecrow-like mRNA targets directed by a class of Arabidopsis miRNA. Science 297, 2053–2056 (2002)

Tang, G., Reinhart, B. J., Bartel, D. P. & Zamore, P. D. A biochemical framework for RNA silencing in plants. Genes Dev. 17, 49–63 (2003)

Brennecke, J., Hipfner, D. R., Stark, A., Russell, R. B. & Cohen, S. M. Bantam encodes a developmentally regulated microRNA that controls cell proliferation and regulates the proapoptotic gene hid in Drosophila. Cell 113, 25–36 (2003)

Lee, Y., Jeon, K., Lee, J. T., Kim, S. & Kim, V. N. MicroRNA maturation: stepwise processing and subcellular localization. EMBO J. 21, 4663–4670 (2002)

Hutvagner, G. et al. A cellular function for the RNA-interference enzyme Dicer in the maturation of the let-7 small temporal RNA. Science 293, 834–838 (2001)

Bernstein, E., Caudy, A. A., Hammond, S. M. & Hannon, G. J. Role for a bidentate ribonuclease in the initiation step of RNA interference. Nature 409, 363–366 (2001)

Grishok, A. et al. Genes and mechanisms related to RNA interference regulate expression of the small temporal RNAs that control C. elegans developmental timing. Cell 106, 23–34 (2001)

Ketting, R. F. et al. Dicer functions in RNA interference and in synthesis of small RNA involved in developmental timing in C. elegans. Genes Dev. 15, 2654–2659 (2001)

Knight, S. W. & Bass, B. L. A role for the RNase III enzyme DCR-1 in RNA interference and germ line development in Caenorhabditis elegans. Science 293, 2269–2271 (2001)

Zeng, Y. & Cullen, B. R. Sequence requirements for micro RNA processing and function in human cells. RNA 9, 112–123 (2003)

Elbashir, S. M., Lendeckel, W. & Tuschl, T. RNA interference is mediated by 21- and 22-nucleotide RNAs. Genes Dev. 15, 188–200 (2001)

Zamore, P. D. Thirty-three years later, a glimpse at the ribonuclease III active site. Mol. Cell 8, 1158–1160 (2001)

Filippov, V., Solovyev, V., Filippova, M. & Gill, S. S. A novel type of RNase III family proteins in eukaryotes. Gene 245, 213–221 (2000)

Fortin, K. R., Nicholson, R. H. & Nicholson, A. W. Mouse ribonuclease III. cDNA structure, expression analysis, and chromosomal location. BMC Genomics 3, 26 (2002)

Koc, E. C. et al. The large subunit of the mammalian mitochondrial ribosome. Analysis of the complement of ribosomal proteins present. J. Biol. Chem. 276, 43958–43969 (2001)

Billy, E., Brondani, V., Zhang, H., Muller, U. & Filipowicz, W. Specific interference with gene expression induced by long, double-stranded RNA in mouse embryonal teratocarcinoma cell lines. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 98, 14428–14433 (2001)

Provost, P. et al. Ribonuclease activity and RNA binding of recombinant human Dicer. EMBO J. 21, 5864–5874 (2002)

Wu, H., Xu, H., Miraglia, L. J. & Crooke, S. T. Human RNase III is a 160-kDa protein involved in preribosomal RNA processing. J. Biol. Chem. 275, 36957–36965 (2000)

Zeng, Y., Wagner, E. J. & Cullen, B. R. Both natural and designed micro RNAs can inhibit the expression of cognate mRNAs when expressed in human cells. Mol. Cell 9, 1327–1333 (2002)

Elbashir, S. M. et al. Duplexes of 21-nucleotide RNAs mediate RNA interference in cultured mammalian cells. Nature 411, 494–498 (2001)