title: Computational identification of MicroRNAs in strawberry expressed sequence tags and validation of their precise sequences by miR-RACE.
abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, endogenously expressed, nonprotein-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level in both animals and plants through repressing translation or inducing mRNA degradation. A comprehensive strategy to identify new miRNA homologs by mining the repository of available strawberry expressed sequence tags (ESTs) was developed. By adopting a range of filtering criteria, we identified 11 potential miRNAs belonging to 5 miRNA families from 47 890 Fragaria vesca EST sequences. Using 2 specific 5' and 3' miRNA RACE PCR reactions and a sequence-directed cloning method, we accurately determined both end sequences of 5 candidate miRNAs. Meanwhile, qRT-PCR was used to detect the expression of these 5 miRNAs in different strawberry organs and tissues at several growing stages. These newly identified F. vesca miRNAs (fve-miRNAs) and their expression information can improve our understanding of possible roles of fve-miRNAs in regulating the growth and development of F. vesca.
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory of New Technology in Agricultural Application, Plant Science and Technology College, Beijing University of Agriculture, Beijing, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Qing-Hua
authors.initials: QH
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Hua-Ping
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Mi-Zhen
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: An-Jing
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Jing-Gui
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Fang
mesh_terms: D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods*; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D031985:Fragaria / Q000235:genetics*; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D021141:Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques; D009841:Oligonucleotides / Q000235:genetics; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D035683:MicroRNAs; D009841:Oligonucleotides