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Common Terms and Definitions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 June 2024

David C. Henshall
David C. Henshall
Affiliation:
RCSI University of Medicine & Health Sciences, Dublin

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Fine-Tuning Life
A Guide to MicroRNAs, Your Genome's Master Regulators
 , pp. xiii - xiv
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Common Terms and Definitions

Aetiology

The cause of the disease

Antimir

An antisense oligonucleotide that targets a microRNA

Argonaute

The protein that holds the active microRNA and brings it to its target

Cluster

A set of microRNAs generated from the same precursor genes, often with overlapping targets and functions

Dendrite

The branched structure extending out from a neurone that bears the synaptic sites that collect incoming signals from other neurones

Dicer

The enzyme that cleaves the pre-microRNA to generate the final form that is passed to the Argonaute protein

Differentiation

The process whereby a cell transitions from dividing towards specialisation

Epileptogenesis

The process by which a normal brain is changed to one that generates spontaneous seizures

Hippocampus

Part of the temporal lobe in the brain, a structure involved in learning, memory and spatial navigation

Knockout

A genetic manipulation in which copies of a gene have been deleted or mutated

Phenotype

The observable characteristics of an organism

siRNA/RNAi

A process for gene silencing triggered by introduction of double-stranded RNAs with perfect complementarity to an mRNA target

Transcript

An RNA, often used as a synonym for mRNA

3’ UTR

A region of the mRNA of a protein-coding gene that contains regulatory information and is the position where most microRNAs bind

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