Vol.22 No.5

Review Article

Current strategies for microRNA research

Authors

Shuji Takada1 , Hiroshi Asahara1,2,3

  • Department of Systems BioMedicine, National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, 2-10-1 Okura, Setagaya, Tokyo, 157-8535, Japan
  • Department of Systems BioMedicine, Faculty of Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 2-3-10 Kandasurugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 101-0062, Japan
  • CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), 4-1-8 Hon-machi, Kawaguchi, Saitama, 332-0011, Japan
Received:

18 October 2011

Accepted:

16 December 2011

Published online:

12 January 2012

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Abstract

The short ribonucleic acid molecules (20-24 nucleotides) known as microRNAs (miRNAs) are noncoding RNAs that disrupt translation or degrade target mRNAs posttranscriptionally in a sequence-specific manner, and the miRNA may not be completely complementary to its targets. This class of RNAs is thought to be functionally important because many individual miRNAs are evolutionally conserved across widely diverse phyla. Further, miRNAs are associated with diverse biological phenomena, such as cell growth, apoptosis, development, differentiation, cancer, and arthritis. MicroRNA research is one of a number of rapidly evolving fields of basic and biomedical science, with many new techniques being developed. However, miRNA experiments require modifications of preexisting molecular techniques or specialized methods, given the difficulties stemming from their small size. In this review, we summarize current in-silico and biochemical strategies for miRNA research to outline the current status of the research techniques now being employed to find a new direction in the field.

Key words

MicroRNA - Method - Profiling - In silico