The Microprocessor signature. (A) The general structure of a pri-miRNA with the hairpin that will become the pre-miRNA upon Microprocessor cleavage and the mature miRNA sequence are indicated. The equation used to calculate processing efficiency is shown. Here the ratio of pri-miRNAs covering the pre-miRNA region (representing unprocessed pri-miRNA) to flanking regions (representing both processed and unprocessed pri-miRNA) is calculated to show the fraction of the pri-miRNA that has been cleaved. The processing efficiency is then calculated as 1 – this ratio. Processing efficiency will have a value between 1 (fully processed) and 0 (not processed). (B) Example of the signature where the Microprocessor has cleaved in an RNA sequencing read density plot, showing the profile that can be quantified to determine processing efficiency.
