In-silico and in-vivo analyses of EST databases unveil conserved miRNAs from Carthamus tinctorius and Cynara cardunculus.

ABSTRACT:

Background

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small RNAs (21-24 bp) providing an RNA-based system of gene regulation highly conserved in plants and animals. In plants, miRNAs control mRNA degradation or restrain translation, affecting development and responses to stresses. Plant miRNAs show imperfect but extensive complementarity to mRNA targets, making their computational prediction possible, useful when data mining is applied on different species. In this study we used a comparative approach to identify both miRNAs and their targets, in artichoke and safflower.

Results

Two complete expressed sequence tags (ESTs) datasets from artichoke (3.6 · 10(4) entries) and safflower (4.2 · 10(4)), were analysed with a bioinformatic pipeline and in vitro experiments, identifying 17 potential miRNA

SUBMITTER: Catalano D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3314569 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature