Nature Genetics
37, 766 - 770 (2005)
Published online: 19 June 2005; | doi:10.1038/ng1590
Identification of hundreds of conserved and nonconserved human microRNAsIsaac Bentwich1, 2, Amir Avniel1, 2, Yael Karov1, 2, Ranit Aharonov1, 2, Shlomit Gilad1, 2, Omer Barad1, Adi Barzilai1, Paz Einat1, Uri Einav1, Eti Meiri1, Eilon Sharon1, Yael Spector1
& Zvi Bentwich11
Rosetta Genomics, 10 Plaut Street, Science Park, Rehovot
76706, Israel. 2
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Correspondence should be addressed to Isaac Bentwich bentwich@rosettagenomics.comMicroRNAs are noncoding RNAs of  22 nucleotides that suppress translation of target genes by binding to their mRNA and thus have a central role in gene regulation in health and disease1,
2,
3,
4,
5. To date, 222 human microRNAs have been identified6, 86 by random cloning and sequencing, 43 by computational approaches and the rest as putative microRNAs homologous to microRNAs in other species. To prove our hypothesis that the total number of microRNAs may be much larger and that several have emerged only in primates, we developed an integrative approach combining bioinformatic predictions with microarray analysis and sequence-directed cloning. Here we report the use of this approach to clone and sequence 89 new human microRNAs (nearly doubling the current number of sequenced human microRNAs), 53 of which are not conserved beyond primates. These findings suggest that the total number of human microRNAs is at least 800.
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