Brassinosteroids inhibit miRNA-mediated translational repression by decreasing AGO1 on the endoplasmic reticulum.

Translational repression is a conserved mechanism in microRNA (miRNA)-guided gene silencing. In Arabidopsis, ARGONAUTE1 (AGO1), the major miRNA effector, localizes in the cytoplasm for mRNA cleavage and at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) for translational repression of target genes. However, the mechanism underlying miRNA-mediated translational repression is poorly understood.

A Comprehensive Map of Intron Branchpoints and Lariat RNAs in Plants.

Lariats are formed by excised introns, when the 5' splice site joins with the branchpoint (BP) during splicing. Although lariat RNAs are usually degraded by RNA debranching enzyme 1, recent findings in animals detected many lariat RNAs under physiological conditions. By contrast, the features of BPs and to what extent lariat RNAs accumulate naturally are largely unexplored in plants.

A lariat-derived circular RNA is required for plant development in Arabidopsis.

Lariat RNA is produced during pre-mRNA splicing, and it is traditionally thought as by-products, due to the quick turnover by debranching followed by degradation. However, recent findings identified many lariat RNAs accumulate with a circular form in higher eukaryotes. Although the remarkable accumulation, biological consequence of lariat-derived circular RNAs (here we name laciRNAs) remains largely unknown.