Editorial: The RNA Revolution in Embryonic Development and Cell Differentiation in Health and Disease

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) and their RNA binding proteins (RBPs) are emerging as crucial molecular players involved in normal and pathological cell fate determination. Among them microRNA (miRNAs), acting as gene expression regulators at post-transcriptional level, are involved in several networks relevant for the regulation of stemness, pluripotency, and cell fate determination during embryogenesis and adult life. Interestingly, the relevance for comprehension of the generation of spatio-temporal specificity of miRNA, their levels and dynamics of expression, and how the animal miRNA repertoire has evolved and diversified, is reported by Dexheimer and Cochella. The understanding of these regulation mechanisms could really help us to understand the contribution of miRNAs to the embryonic development and cell differentiation. Of note, alteration of the molecular mechanisms involving the ncRNA and their effectors in addition to defects in RNA modification and editing may contribute to the pathological cell fate determination in cancer and degenerative diseases.