title: Computational prediction of microRNA genes in silkworm genome.
abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) constitute a novel, extensive class of small RNAs (approximately 21 nucleotides), and play important gene-regulation roles during growth and development in various organisms. Here we conducted a homology search to identify homologs of previously validated miRNAs from silkworm genome. We identified 24 potential miRNA genes, and gave each of them a name according to the common criteria. Interestingly, we found that a great number of newly identified miRNAs were conserved in silkworm and Drosophila, and family alignment revealed that miRNA families might possess single nucleotide polymorphisms. miRNA gene clusters and possible functions of complement miRNA pairs are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry, School of Life Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310029, China.
authors.forename: Chuan-zhou
authors.initials: CZ
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.forename: Yong-feng
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Yao-zhou
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D012831:Bombyx; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D016678:Genome; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D012984:Software; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs