miRNAs, small
single-stranded hairpin RNAs capable of interfering with intracellular mRNAs
that contain partial complementarity, are useful for the design of new
therapies against cancer polymorphism and viral mutation. This characteristic
is different from siRNA because a rigid complete complementarity is required
for siRNA-induced RNAi gene silencing. miRNA was originally discovered in Caenorhabditis
elegans as native RNA fragments that modulate a wide range of genetic
regulatory pathways during animal development. Recently, findings of
intron-derived miRNA in C. elegans, mouse, and human have led to a novel
therapeutic strategy, using the miRNA generated by polymerase II (Pol-II) RNA
transcription and splicing.
In view of the
high conservation of the miRNAs in modulation of gene expression, the main
objective of MicroRNA Protocols is to provide diverse, novel, and useful
descriptions of miRNAs in several species, including plants, worms, flies,
fish, chicks, mice, and humans. These include some useful adaptations and
applications that could be relevant to the wider research community who are
already familiar with the identification of miRNAs. For example, a variety of
different adaptations are described that have been employed to develop miRNAs
as a potential drug design. miRNA has opened a new avenue for our understanding
of gene expression and will become one of the most widely applied techniques in
biomedical research, playing a major role in the molecular investigation of
disease pathogenesis. Determination of the applicable miRNAs at the molecular
level is already beginning to inform the design of new therapeutic strategies.
It is our hope that MicroRNA Protocols will stimulate the reader to
explore diverse ways to understand the mechanisms by which miRNAs facilitate
the molecular aspects of biomedical research.
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