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Identification of hundreds of conserved and nonconserved human microRNAs

Nature Genetics volume 37, pages 766–770 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

MicroRNAs 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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Figure 1: MicroRNA detection and validation.
Figure 2: The number of conserved microRNAs in the human genome.
Figure 3: Two new nonconserved microRNA clusters.
Figure 4: Multiple sequence alignments of cloned mature microRNAs from the two new nonconserved clusters.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the members of the Rosetta Genomics team for their dedication and contribution.

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Author notes

  1. Isaac Bentwich, Amir Avniel, Yael Karov, Ranit Aharonov and Shlomit Gilad: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rosetta Genomics, 10 Plaut Street, Science Park, Rehovot, 76706, Israel

    Isaac Bentwich, Amir Avniel, Yael Karov, Ranit Aharonov, Shlomit Gilad, Omer Barad, Adi Barzilai, Paz Einat, Uri Einav, Eti Meiri, Eilon Sharon, Yael Spector & Zvi Bentwich

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  1. Isaac Bentwich
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Correspondence to Isaac Bentwich.

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Competing interests

The authors are employed by and own shares or options in Rosetta Genomics Ltd., a company that is involved in discovery and commercialization of microRNA.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Fig. 1

Expression profiles of novel validated microRNAs (I). (PDF 99 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 2

Expression profiles of novel validated microRNAs (II). (PDF 441 kb)

Supplementary Table 1

Novel validated microRNAs. (PDF 88 kb)

Supplementary Table 2

Microarray results for novel validated and known microRNAs. (PDF 59 kb)

Supplementary Methods (PDF 107 kb)

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Bentwich, I., Avniel, A., Karov, Y. et al. Identification of hundreds of conserved and nonconserved human microRNAs. Nat Genet 37, 766–770 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng1590

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