Probing microRNAs with microarrays: tissue specificity and functional inference.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short, stable, noncoding RNAs involved in post-transcriptional gene silencing via hybridization to mRNA. Few have been thoroughly characterized in any species. Here, we describe a method to detect miRNAs using micro-arrays, in which the miRNAs are directly hybridized to the array. We used this method to analyze miRNA expression across 17 mouse organs and tissues. More than half of the 78 miRNAs detected were expressed in specific adult tissues, suggesting that miRNAs have widespread regulatory roles in adults. By comparing miRNA levels to mRNA levels determined in a parallel microarray analysis of the same tissues, we found that the expression of target mRNAs predicted on the basis of sequence complementarity is unrelated to the tissues in which the corresponding miRNA is expressed.
Babak
Tomas
T
Banting and Best Department of Medical Research, 112 College St., University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1L6, Canada.
Zhang
Wen
W
Morris
Quaid
Q
Blencowe
Benjamin J
BJ
Hughes
Timothy R
TR
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice / Q000235:genetics*; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D009928:Organ Specificity; D012323:RNA Processing, Post-Transcriptional; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014018:Tissue Distribution
D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D035683:MicroRNAs; D012333:RNA, Messenger