Functional Atlas of Primary miRNA Maturation by the Microprocessor

Primary microRNAs (miRNAs) are the precursors of miRNAs that modulate the expression of most mRNAs in humans. They fold up into a hairpin structure that is cleaved at its base by an enzyme complex known as the Microprocessor (Drosha/DGCR8). While many of the molecular details are known, a complete understanding of what features distinguish primary miRNA from hairpin structures in other transcripts is still lacking. We develop a massively parallel functional assay termed Dro-seq (Drosha sequencing) that enables testing of hundreds of known primary miRNA substrates and thousands of single-nucleotide variants. We find an additional feature of primary miRNAs, called Shannon entropy, describing the structural ensemble important for processing. In a deep mutagenesis experiment, we observe particular apical loop U bases, likely recognized by DGCR8, are important for efficient processing. These findings build on existing knowledge about primary miRNA maturation by the Microprocessor and further explore the substrate RNA sequence-structure relationship.