Computational Analysis of miRNA Target Identification

Title:Computational Analysis of miRNA Target Identification

Volume: 7 Issue: 4

Author(s): Leyi Wei, Yong Huang, Yanyun Qu, Yi Jiang and Quan Zou

Affiliation:

Keywords: microRNAs, miRNA target, computational miRNA target prediction methods, machine learning based method, rule-based methods, THERMODYNAMICS, SEED PAIRING, TARGET ACCESSIBILITY, psRNATARGET, RNAhybrid, mirWIP, DIANA-microT

Abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short RNA molecules that regulate the post-transcriptional expression of their target genes – messenger RNAs (mRNAs). Although miRNAs are known to down-regulate the translation or the cleavage of mRNAs, the miRNA-mediated regulation mechanisms still remain largely unknown. Therefore, in order to achieve a better understanding of the biological function of the miRNAs, a critical step is to identify miRNA targets. At present, since the experimental identification of miRNA targets is still difficult, investigators rely mainly on computational methods to identify miRNA targets, and numerous computational methods are currently available. The computational identification of miRNA targets has emerged as a significant field in miRNA target research. In this paper, we summarize the knowledge about the computational identification of miRNA targets, including the principles of miRNA targeting, computational methods for miRNA target prediction, and the databases required for miRNA targeting. Furthermore, we make a comparison analysis of several representative computational target prediction methods in this work.

Cite this article as:

Wei Leyi, Huang Yong, Qu Yanyun, Jiang Yi and Zou Quan, Computational Analysis of miRNA Target Identification, Current Bioinformatics 2012; 7 (4) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/157489312803900974