Detection and analysis of microRNAs using LNA (locked nucleic acid)-modified probes

TL;DRAbstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are an abundant class of short endogenous RNAs that act as post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression by base-pairing with their target mRNAs. To date more than 3500 microRNAs have been annotated in vertebrates, invertebrates and plants according to the miRBase microRNA database release 8.0 in February 2006 (Griffiths-Jones, 2004; Griffiths-Jones et al., 2006), and many miRNAs that correspond to putative genes have also been identified. The miRNAs identified to date represent most likely the tip of the iceberg, and the number of miRNAs might turn out to be very large. Recent bioinformatic predictions combined with array analyses, small RNA cloning and Northern blot validation indicate that the total number of miRNAs in vertebrate genomes is significantly higher than previously estimated and maybe as many as 1000 (Bentwich et al., 2005; Berezikov et al., 2005; Xie et al., 2005). An increasing body of research shows that animal miRNAs play fundamental biologica

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