MicroRNAs and their isomiRs function cooperatively to target common biological pathways.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Variants of microRNAs (miRNAs), called isomiRs, are commonly reported in deep-sequencing studies; however, the functional significance of these variants remains controversial. Observational studies show that isomiR patterns are non-random, hinting that these molecules could be regulated and therefore functional, although no conclusive biological role has been demonstrated for these molecules.

Results

To assess the biological relevance of isomiRs, we have performed ultra-deep miRNA-seq on ten adult human tissues, and created an analysis pipeline called miRNA-MATE to align, annotate, and analyze miRNAs and their isomiRs. We find that isomiRs share sequence and expression characteristics with canonical miRNAs, and are generally strongly correlated with canonical miRN

SUBMITTER: Cloonan N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3334621 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature