NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – While recent advances in next-generation sequencing have established the existence of multiple mature microRNA species that arise from the same arm of a hairpin miRNA precursor, new data out of Thomas Jefferson University has revealed a new layer of complexity to this system by showing that these so-called isomiRs can vary depending on gender and population within the same cell type.
The findings, which appeared in Oncotarget, are “pointing us to directions we didn’t consider before,” suggesting that the current concept of the mature miRNA product may be too limited, Isidore Rigoutsos, director of TJU’s Computational Medicine Center and senior author of the report, said. Read more