{
  "id": "microprocessor-complex-2356506-2a87c733a4a127d0",
  "slug": "microprocessor-complex",
  "title": "microprocessor complex",
  "qid": "Q21108530",
  "lead": "structure of the microprocessor complex, showing human Drosha protein (ribonuclease III, green) and two subunits of DGCR8 (dark and light blue) interacting with and ready to cleave a primary microRNA. From . The microprocessor complex is a protein complex involved in the early stages of processing microRNA (miRNA) and RNA interference (RNAi) in animal cells. The complex is minimally composed of the ribonuclease enzyme Drosha and the dimeric RNA-binding protein DGCR8 (also known as Pasha in non-human animals), and cleaves primary miRNA substrates to pre-miRNA in the cell nucleus. Microprocessor is also the smaller of the two multi-protein complexes that contain human Drosha. of the human Drosha protein in complex with the C-terminal helices of two DGCR8 molecules (green). Drosha consists of two ribonuclease III domains (blue and orange); a double-stranded RNA binding domain (yellow); and a connector/platform domain (gray) containing two bound zinc ion (spheres). From .",
  "body": "structure of the microprocessor complex, showing human Drosha protein (ribonuclease III, green) and two subunits of DGCR8 (dark and light blue) interacting with and ready to cleave a primary microRNA. From . The microprocessor complex is a protein complex involved in the early stages of processing microRNA (miRNA) and RNA interference (RNAi) in animal cells. The complex is minimally composed of the ribonuclease enzyme Drosha and the dimeric RNA-binding protein DGCR8 (also known as Pasha in non-human animals), and cleaves primary miRNA substrates to pre-miRNA in the cell nucleus. Microprocessor is also the smaller of the two multi-protein complexes that contain human Drosha. of the human Drosha protein in complex with the C-terminal helices of two DGCR8 molecules (green). Drosha consists of two ribonuclease III domains (blue and orange); a double-stranded RNA binding domain (yellow); and a connector/platform domain (gray) containing two bound zinc ion (spheres). From . ==Composition== The microprocessor complex consists minimally of two proteins: Drosha, a ribonuclease III enzyme; and DGCR8, a double-stranded RNA binding protein. (DGCR8 is the name used in mammalian genetics, abbreviated from \"DiGeorge syndrome critical region 8\"; the homologous protein in model organisms such as flies and worms is called Pasha, for Partner of Drosha.) The stoichiometry of the minimal complex was at one point experimentally difficult to determine, but it has been demonstrated to be a heterotrimer of two DGCR8 proteins and one Drosha. In addition to the minimal catalytically active microprocessor components, other cofactors such as DEAD box RNA helicases and heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins may be present in the complex to mediate the activity of Drosha. Some miRNAs are processed by microprocessor only in the presence of specific cofactors. ==Regulation== Gene regulation by miRNA is widespread across many genomes – by some estimates more than 60% of human protein-coding genes are likely to be regulated by miRNA, though the quality of experimental evidence for miRNA-target interactions is often weak. Because processing by microprocessor is a major determinant of miRNA abundance, microprocessor itself is then an important target of regulation. Both Drosha and DGCR8 are subject to regulation by post-translational modifications modulating stability, intracellular localization, and activity levels. Activity against particular substrates may be regulated by additional protein cofactors interacting with the microprocessor complex. The loop region of the pri-miRNA stem-loop is also a recognition element for regulatory proteins, which may up- or down-regulate microprocessor processing of the specific miRNAs they target. Microprocessor itself is auto-regulated by negative feedback through association with a pri-miRNA-like hairpin structure found in the DGCR8 mRNA, which when cleaved reduces DGCR8 expression. The structure in this case is located in an exon and is unlikely to itself function as miRNA in its own right. ==Evolution== Drosha shares striking structural similarity with the downstream ribonuclease Dicer, suggesting an evolutionary relationship, though Drosha and related enzymes are found only in animals while Dicer relatives are widely distributed, including among protozoans. Both components of the microprocessor complex are conserved among the vast majority of metazoans with known genomes. Mnemiopsis leidyi, a ctenophore, lacks both Drosha and DGCR8 homologs, as well as recognizable miRNAs, and is the only known metazoan with no detectable genomic evidence of Drosha. In plants, the miRNA biogenesis pathway is somewhat different; neither Drosha nor DGCR8 has a homolog in plant cells, where the first step in miRNA processing is usually executed by a different nuclear ribonuclease, DCL1, a homolog of Dicer. It has been suggested based on phylogenetic analysis that the key components of RNA interference based on exogenous substrates were present in the ancestral eukaryote, likely as an immune mechanism against viruses and transposable elements. Elaboration of this pathway for miRNA-mediated gene regulation is thought to have evolved later.",
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  "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
  "source_uri": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373467425",
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    "id": "microprocessor-complex-2356506-2a87c733a4a127d0",
    "type": "webpage",
    "title": "microprocessor complex",
    "author": [
      {
        "family": "Anticloud FZ LLE",
        "literal": "Anticloud FZ LLE"
      }
    ],
    "container-title": "encyclopegia.org",
    "publisher": "Anticloud FZ LLE",
    "publisher-place": "Dubai, United Arab Emirates",
    "URL": "https://encyclopegia.org/a/microprocessor-complex",
    "issued": {
      "date-parts": [
        [
          2026,
          10,
          18
        ]
      ]
    },
    "accessed": {
      "date-parts": [
        [
          2026,
          11,
          11
        ]
      ]
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    "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
    "DOI": "eo1:microprocessor-complex-2356506-2a87c733a4a127d0",
    "isBasedOn": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373467425",
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}