SIREs: searching for iron-responsive elements.

ABSTRACT: The iron regulatory protein/iron-responsive element regulatory system plays a crucial role in the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression and its disruption results in human disease. IREs are cis-acting regulatory motifs present in mRNAs that encode proteins involved in iron metabolism. They function as binding sites for two related trans-acting factors, namely the IRP-1 and -2. Among cis-acting RNA regulatory elements, the IRE is one of the best characterized. It is defined by a combination of RNA sequence and structure. However, currently available programs to predict IREs do not show a satisfactory level of sensitivity and fail to detect some of the functional IREs. Here, we report an improved software for the prediction of IREs implemented as a user-friendly web server tool.

SUBMITTER: Campillos M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2896125 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature