title: MicroRNA expression profiling of the fifth-instar posterior silk gland of Bombyx mori.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The growth and development of the posterior silk gland and the biosynthesis of the silk core protein at the fifth larval instar stage of Bombyx mori are of paramount importance for silk production.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Here, aided by next-generation sequencing and microarry assay, we profile 1,229 microRNAs (miRNAs), including 728 novel miRNAs and 110 miRNA/miRNA* duplexes, of the posterior silk gland at the fifth larval instar. Target gene prediction yields 14,222 unique target genes from 1,195 miRNAs. Functional categorization classifies the targets into complex pathways that include both cellular and metabolic processes, especially protein synthesis and processing.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The enrichment of target genes in the ribosome-related pathway indicates that miRNAs may directly regulate translation. Our findings pave a way for further functional elucidation of these miRNAs and their targets in silk production.
authors.forename: Jisheng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yimei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Lupeng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Shaohua
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jiaqian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Che
authors.forename: Zhengying
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: You
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Hangzhou 310058, P,R, China. junyu@big.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Boxiong
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhong
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D012831:Bombyx / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D007814:Larva / Q000378:metabolism; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000378:metabolism*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D047011:Silk / Q000378:metabolism; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; D047011:Silk