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Science 2 September 2005:
Vol. 309. no. 5740, pp. 1519 - 1524
DOI: 10.1126/science.1111444
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Review

Ribo-gnome: The Big World of Small RNAs

Phillip D. Zamore* and Benjamin Haley

Small RNA guides—microRNAs, small interfering RNAs, and repeat-associated small interfering RNAs, 21 to 30 nucleotides in length—shape diverse cellular pathways, from chromosome architecture to stem cell maintenance. Fifteen years after the discovery of RNA silencing, we are only just beginning to understand the depth and complexity of how these RNAs regulate gene expression and to consider their role in shaping the evolutionary history of higher eukaryotes.

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: phillip.zamore{at}umassmed.edu

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