Structural conservation versus functional divergence of maternally expressed microRNAs in the Dlk1/Gtl2 imprinting region.

ABSTRACT:

Background

MicroRNAs play an important functional role in post-transcriptional gene regulation. One of the largest known microRNA clusters is located within the imprinted Dlk1/Gtl2 region on human chromosome 14 and mouse chromosome 12. This cluster contains more than 40 microRNA genes that are expressed only from the maternal chromosome in mouse.

Results

To shed light on the function of these microRNAs and possible crosstalk between microRNA-based gene regulation and genomic imprinting, we performed extensive in silico analyses of the microRNAs in this imprinted region and their predicted target genes.Bioinformatic analysis reveals that these microRNAs are highly conserved in both human and mouse. Whereas the microRNA precursors at this locus mostly belong to large sequence

SUBMITTER: Kircher M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2500034 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature