High-throughput Assays for MicroRNA Target Genes

MicroRNAs ( miRNAs ) are a class of endogenous non-coding RNAs involved in the regulation of gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. miRNAs play pivotal roles in cell growth , development and disease pathogenesis. Therefore , to identify and validate miRNAs target genes regulated is essential to understand the functions of miRNAs in disease. miRNAs bind the complementary sequences of target mRNAs to mediate translational repression or target degradation and gene silencing , both computer-aided predication and biological experimental screening can be used for target identification. The former may produce a large number of miRNA target genes with higher false positive genes to be further excluded by the biological experiments. The latter approaches can be further greatly facilitated with high-throughput multiple target screening assays , such as microarray , proteome analysis , or RNA ligase mediated rapid amplification of cDNA ends. The applications involving these assays were summarized and compared , together with the discussion on the further development of related technologies.