TarBase: A comprehensive database of experimentally supported animal microRNA targets

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are approximately 22-nt RNA segments that are involved in the regulation of protein expression primarily by binding to one or more target sites on an mRNA transcript and inhibiting translation. MicroRNAs are likely to factor into multiple developmental pathways, multiple mechanisms of gene regulation, and underlie an array of inherited disease processes and phenotypic determinants. Several computational programs exist to predict miRNA targets in mammals, fruit flies, worms, and plants. However, to date, there is no systematic collection and description of miRNA targets with experimental support. We describe a database, TarBase, which houses a manually curated collection of experimentally…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Award: 0238295
• UO
  University of Pennsylvania
• NI
  National Institutes of Health