Micro RNA Analysis

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are highly conserved, single-stranded RNA molecules of about 19-23 nucleotides in length. They play a very important role in gene regulation by binding to the 3'-untranslated regions of specific mRNAs. MiRNAs have been found to have links with some types of cancers and other diseases.

More and more miRNA are being discovered in various organisms. MiRNA sequences are deposited at the miRBase Sequence Database of the Sanger Institute and is available for download for free. Release 13.0 of the database contains 9539 entries representing hairpin precursor miRNAs, expressing 9169 mature miRNA products, in 103 species.

Detecting microRNAs using miRNA Arrays

Since miRNAs are thought to represent only 0.01% of the total mass of RNA in a sample (10 µg total RNA contains ~1 ng miRNA), it's detection and quantification can be challenging. Microarray technology had been tapped for miRNA expression profiling because of its ability to quantitatively assay hundreds of samples at once with minimum sample input at a cheaper price compared to quantitative PCR.

Support Modes

The FGCZ currently supports miRNA array experiments on the Agilent Microarray Platform.

Contact

Andrea Patrignani