Genomic features and computational identification of human microRNAs under long-range developmental regulation
2011

Identifying Human MicroRNAs Regulated During Development

Sample size: 29 publication Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Sheng Ying, Christopher Previti

Primary Institution: University of Bergen

Hypothesis

We hypothesized that miRNAs with complex spatiotemporal expression patterns may be regulated in the same manner as protein-coding GRB target genes.

Conclusion

A subset of the conserved miRNA loci we investigated exhibits typical characteristics of GRB target genes, which may partially explain their complex expression profiles during development.

Supporting Evidence

  • The study identified 29 putative GRB target miRNAs/miRNA clusters.
  • Over two-thirds of the identified miRNAs are known to play a role during development and differentiation.
  • The miR-9 family was included among the experimentally verified GRB target miRNAs.

Takeaway

The study found that some small RNA molecules called miRNAs are controlled in a similar way to important genes during development, which helps explain how they work.

Methodology

The study analyzed the regulatory landscape around conserved self-transcribed miRNAs by examining the density of highly conserved non-coding elements and the presence of large CpG islands.

Limitations

More than half of the ST miRNAs in the dataset do not have primary transcript predictions, limiting the ability to compute certain features.

Statistical Information

P-Value

p<0.05

Statistical Significance

p<0.05

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1186/1471-2164-12-270

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