ArticleCurrent biology : CB2018
Unicellular Origin of the Animal MicroRNA Machinery.
Article in Current biology : CB, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 53 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- A smartphone analogy to explore the origin of animals.The EMBO journal · 2026Review
- The evolutionary foundations of transcriptional regulation in animals.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2025Review
- Human umbilical vein endothelial cell miRNA secretome highlights endothelial origin of serum miRNAs.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Ichthyosporea: a window into the origin of animals.Communications biology · 2024Review
- Evolution of microRNAs in Amoebozoa and implications for the origin of multicellularity.Nucleic acids research · 2024Article
- Mitochondrially mediated RNA interference, a retrograde signaling system affecting nuclear gene expression.Heredity · 2024Article
- Advances in Point-of-Care Testing of microRNAs Based on Portable Instruments and Visual Detection.Biosensors · 2023Review
- Dicer structure and function: conserved and evolving features.EMBO reports · 2023Review
- Small RNA-mediated silencing of phototropin suppresses the induction of photoprotection in the green algaProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Small RNAs in Cnidaria: A review.Evolutionary applications · 2023Article
- Characterization of microRNAs in the cyst nematodeRNA biology · 2023Article
- Time-resolved small RNA transcriptomics of the ichthyosporeanF1000Research · 2023Article
- Current Status of Regulatory Non-Coding RNAs Research in the Tritryp.Non-coding RNA · 2022Review
- Experimental evolution is not just for model organisms.PLoS biology · 2022Article
- Exosomal noncoding RNAs in central nervous system diseases: biological functions and potential clinical applications.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2022Review
- A chromosome-scale genome assembly and karyotype of the ctenophore Hormiphora californensis.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2021Article
- The origin of animals: an ancestral reconstruction of the unicellular-to-multicellular transition.Open biology · 2021Review
- Prediction methods for microRNA targets in bilaterian animals: Toward a better understanding by biologists.Computational and structural biotechnology journal · 2021Review
- The Evolution of the Hallmarks of Aging.Frontiers in genetics · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 6 institutions in 6 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The emergence of multicellular animals was associated with an increase in phenotypic complexity and with the acquisition of spatial cell differentiation and embryonic development. Paradoxically, this phenotypic transition was not paralleled by major changes in the underlying developmental toolkit and regulatory networks. In fact, most of these systems are ancient, established already in the unicellular ancestors of animals [1-5]. In contrast, the Microprocessor protein machinery, which is essential for microRNA (miRNA) biogenesis in animals, as well as the miRNA genes themselves produced by this Microprocessor, have not been identified outside of the animal kingdom [6]. Hence, the Microprocessor, with the key proteins Pasha and Drosha, is regarded as an animal innovation [7-9]. Here, we challenge this evolutionary scenario by investigating unicellular sister lineages of animals through genomic and transcriptomic analyses. We identify in Ichthyosporea both Drosha and Pasha (DGCR8 in vertebrates), indicating that the Microprocessor complex evolved long before the last common ancestor of animals, consistent with a pre-metazoan origin of most of the animal developmental gene elements. Through small RNA sequencing, we also discovered expressed bona fide miRNA genes in several species of the ichthyosporeans harboring the Microprocessor. A deep, pre-metazoan origin of the Microprocessor and miRNAs comply with a view that the origin of multicellular animals was not directly linked to the innovation of these key regulatory components.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.