text: The majority of miRNAs act in the cytoplasm and mediate mRNA degradation or translational arrest. However, some plant miRNAs have been shown to act directly to promote DNA methylation. miRNAs come from hairpin precursors generated by the RNaseIII enzymes Drosha and Dicer. Both miRNA and siRNA form either the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) or the nuclear form of RISC known as RNA-induced transcriptional silencing complex (RITS). The volume of literature on miRNA within the framework of RNAi is extensive.