title: Identification of hundreds of conserved and nonconserved human microRNAs.
abstract: MicroRNAs are noncoding RNAs of approximately 22 nucleotides that suppress translation of target genes by binding to their mRNA and thus have a central role in gene regulation in health and disease. To date, 222 human microRNAs have been identified, 86 by random cloning and sequencing, 43 by computational approaches and the rest as putative microRNAs homologous to microRNAs in other species. To prove our hypothesis that the total number of microRNAs may be much larger and that several have emerged only in primates, we developed an integrative approach combining bioinformatic predictions with microarray analysis and sequence-directed cloning. Here we report the use of this approach to clone and sequence 89 new human microRNAs (nearly doubling the current number of sequenced human microRNAs), 53 of which are not conserved beyond primates. These findings suggest that the total number of human microRNAs is at least 800.
authors.affiliation: Rosetta Genomics, 10 Plaut Street, Science Park, Rehovot 76706, Israel. bentwich@rosettagenomics.com
authors.forename: Isaac
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bentwich
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Avniel
authors.forename: Yael
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Karov
authors.forename: Ranit
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aharonov
authors.forename: Shlomit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gilad
authors.forename: Omer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Barad
authors.forename: Adi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barzilai
authors.forename: Paz
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Einat
authors.forename: Uri
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Einav
authors.forename: Eti
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Meiri
authors.forename: Eilon
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sharon
authors.forename: Yael
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Spector
authors.forename: Zvi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Bentwich
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D015894:Genome, Human; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000032:analysis*; D046228:Microarray Analysis; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs