[3] Microproteins are analogous to microRNAs (miRNAs) and heterodimerize with their targets causing dominant and negative effects.
[4] In animals and plants, microproteins have been found to greatly influence biological processes.
[2] The first microprotein (miP) discovered was during a research in the early 1990s on genes for basic helix–loop–helix (bHLH) transcription factors from a murine erythroleukaemia cell cDNA library.
[3] The primary targets of microproteins are transcription factors that bind to DNA as dimers.
[4] In heterotypic miP inhibition, microproteins interact with proteins with different but compatible PPI domain.
[4] In both types of inhibition, microproteins interfere and prevent the PPI domains from interacting with their normal proteins.