miRTarBase 2020: updates to the experimentally validated microRNA-target interaction database

Area of Science:

• Molecular Biology
• Bioinformatics
• Genomics

Background:

• MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs regulating gene expression post-transcriptionally.
• miRTarBase curates experimentally validated miRNA-target interactions (MTIs).
• The database previously contained over 13,404 validated MTIs from manual curation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance miRTarBase with improved MTI recognition and expanded data integration.
• To provide a more comprehensive resource for studying miRNA regulatory networks.
• To incorporate high-throughput experimental validation data for MTIs.

Main Methods:

• Incorporation of a text-mining system with a scoring mechanism for MTI article identification.
• Integration of diverse biological databases for miRNA regulatory network and expression data.
• Inclusion of MTIs validated by high-throughput technologies like CLIP-seq.

Main Results:

• Enhanced identification of MTI-related literature.
• Expanded dataset including miRNA regulators and expression profiles in blood.
• Significant increase in MTIs supported by high-throughput experimental evidence.
• miRTarBase now provides a more comprehensive view of miRNA regulatory mechanisms.

Conclusions:

• The updated miRTarBase is a leading resource for experimentally validated miRNA-target interactions.
• Improvements facilitate deeper investigation of miRNA upstream and downstream regulations.
• The database is a valuable tool for researchers in molecular biology and genomics.