CoGemiR: A comparative genomics microRNA database

摘要

BackgroundMicroRNAs are small highly conserved non-coding RNAs which play an important role in regulating gene expression by binding the 3'UTR of target mRNAs. The majority of microRNAs are localized within other transcriptional units (host genes) and are co-expressed with them, which strongly suggests that microRNAs and corresponding host genes use the same promoter and other expression control elements. The remaining fraction of microRNAs is intergenic and is endowed with an independent regulatory region. A number of databases have already been developed to collect information about microRNAs but none of them allow an easy exploration of microRNA genomic organization across evolution.