Common questions

What is miRBase database?

What is miRBase database?

The miRBase database is a searchable database of published miRNA sequences and annotation. Each entry in the miRBase Sequence database represents a predicted hairpin portion of a miRNA transcript (termed mir in the database), with information on the location and sequence of the mature miRNA sequence (termed miR).

How many miRNAs are in miRBase?

How many species have miRNA information deposited in miRBase? The latest release of miRBase, release 21 (June 2014), contains miRNA sequence information from 223 species. These species can be browsed through via the ‘Browse’ tab at the top of the page.

How do you find the miRNA sequence?

Choose BLASTN to search for a miRNA in a longer sequence. SSEARCH is useful for finding a short sequence within the library of miRNAs (for instance, find a short motif in a miRNA or precursor stem-loop, or find mature sequences that are related to your query). The search may take a couple of minutes.

What is miRDeep2?

miRDeep2 is a software package for identification of novel and known miRNAs in deep sequencing data. Furthermore, it can be used for miRNA expression profiling across samples. Quantification and expression profiling is done by the quantifier.pl script. miRNA identification is done by the miRDeep2.pl script.

What is the mature miRNA?

Mature microRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of naturally occurring, small non-coding RNA molecules, about 21–25 nucleotides in length. Thousands of miRNAs have since been identified in various organisms through random cloning and sequencing or computational prediction.

How many human microRNAs are there?

There are now over 2000 miRNAs that have been discovered in humans and it is believed that they collectively regulate one third of the genes in the genome. miRNAs have been linked to many human diseases and are being pursued as clinical diagnostics and as therapeutic targets.

How many families of miRNA are in the human genome?

There are 1,600 registered human miRNA genes in miRBase R19 but only 61.2% (367 plus 612) have been annotated into different miRNA families. Genes in miRNA families mir-515 (chromosome 19), mir-154 (chromosome 14), mir-379, mir-743, mir-329, mir-368, mir-500 and say mir-188 are each co-located on a specific chromosome.

How do you identify microRNA targets?

Nowadays, biochemical approaches to identify miRNAs and their targets involves a combination of 1) immunopurification of RISC complexes and subsequent isolation of the associated mRNAs, and 2) identification of target mRNAs via microarray analysis.

How do you identify miRNA?

Two major silencing mechanisms have been identified for miRNAs: mRNA cleavage, and translational repression. The mechanism of mRNA cleavage is more associated with plants, and seems to be indistinguishable from siRNA-directed cleavage, whereas translational repression is more associated with animals.

What do you need to know about miRBase?

The miRBase database is a searchable database of published miRNA sequences and annotation. Each entry in the miRBase Sequence database represents a predicted hairpin portion of a miRNA transcript (termed mir in the database), with information on the location and sequence of the mature miRNA sequence (termed miR).

Who are the authors of the miRBase paper?

Griffiths-Jones S, Saini HK, van Dongen S, Enright AJ. miRBase: microRNA sequences, targets and gene nomenclature. Griffiths-Jones S, Grocock RJ, van Dongen S, Bateman A, Enright AJ.

Is there a searchable database of miRNA sequences?

Indeed, there […] miRBase provides the following services: The miRBase database is a searchable database of published miRNA sequences and annotation.

Author Image
Ruth Doyle