MicroRNAs control mRNA fate by compartmentalization based on 3' UTR length in male germ cells.

miRNAs appear to control cytoplasmic compartmentalization of mRNAs based on 3' UTR length. Our data suggest that transcripts with longer 3' UTRs tend to contain distal miRNA binding sites and are thus targeted to polysomes for translation followed by degradation. In contrast, those with shorter 3' UTRs only possess proximal miRNA binding sites, which, therefore, are targeted into RNPs for enrichment and delayed translation.