MicroRNAs in neural cell differentiation

Abstract The architecture and functioning of the mammalian nervous system are partly based on the complexity of combinatorial gene expression in the developing brain that results in a tremendous diversity of neural cells. MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that are particularly abundant in the brain and are emerging as influential regulators of neural gene expression. This review summarizes the recently discovered role of microRNAs in the development and maintenance of the nervous system. MicroRNAs are temporally expressed during neural differentiation, spatially regulated and embedded in molecular feedback loops that may contribute to the robustness of the neural networks.