title: Identifying miRNAs, targets and functions.
abstract: microRNAs (miRNAs) are small endogenous non-coding RNAs that function as the universal specificity factors in post-transcriptional gene silencing. Discovering miRNAs, identifying their targets and further inferring miRNA functions have been a critical strategy for understanding normal biological processes of miRNAs and their roles in the development of disease. In this review, we focus on computational methods of inferring miRNA functions, including miRNA functional annotation and inferring miRNA regulatory modules, by integrating heterogeneous data sources. We also briefly introduce the research in miRNA discovery and miRNA-target identification with an emphasis on the challenges to computational biology.
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, The University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan NSW 2308, Australia. murray.cairns@newcastle.edu.au.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jiuyong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Murray J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Cairns
mesh_terms: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites / Q000235:genetics; D019295:Computational Biology; D030561:Databases, Nucleic Acid; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008957:Models, Genetic; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D034622:RNA Interference
chemical_list: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D035683:MicroRNAs