Identification of novel chicken microRNAs and analysis of their genomic organization.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) represent a family of small noncoding RNAs with important regulatory roles in diverse biological processes ranging from cell differentiation to organism development. In chickens, the full set of miRNAs and the expression patterns of miRNAs during development are still poorly understood when compared to the other vertebrates. In this study, we identified 29 novel miRNAs and 140 potential miRNA loci in the chicken genome by combining the experimental and computational analyses. Detailed expression patterns of 49 miRNAs were first characterized by Northern blotting and indicated the cooperativity of the miRNA expression with their function in embryogenesis and organogenesis. Twenty-seven miRNA clusters were systematically evaluated in the chicken genome and diverse expression patterns for closely linked miRNAs were observed. Our results significantly expand the set of known miRNAs in the chicken and provide the basis for understanding the structural and functional evolution of miRNA genes in vertebrates.
Key Laboratory of Gene Engineering of the Ministry of Education, State Key Laboratory for Biocontrol, Zhongshan University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China.
Peng
P
Shao
Hui
H
Zhou
Zhen-Dong
ZD
Xiao
Jie-Hua
JH
He
Mian-Bo
MB
Huang
Yue-Qin
YQ
Chen
Liang-Hu
LH
Qu
D000818:Animals; D002642:Chick Embryo; D002645:Chickens / Q000235:genetics*; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000235:genetics; D015870:Gene Expression; D016678:Genome; D035683:MicroRNAs; D005810:Multigene Family / Q000235:genetics
D035683:MicroRNAs