Circulating MicroRNAs as Clinical Biomarkers in the Predictions of Pregnancy Complications

Figure 1

miRNA biogenesis. miRNA gene is transcribed by RNA pol II to form a hairpin loop primary transcript, pri-miRNA, which is processed by Drosha/DCGR8 to form pre-miRNA. Pre-miRNA is exported to the cytoplasm by exportin 5 where Dicer cleaves off the hairpin loop to form a duplex that contains the mature miRNA. The mature miRNA is then incorporated into the RNA-induced silencing complex RISC to target the 3′ untranslated region of the target mRNA to silence expression by repression or cleavage.