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Visualization and Analysis of MiRNA–Targets Interactions Networks

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MicroRNA Profiling

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1509))

Abstract

MicroRNAs are a class of small, noncoding RNA molecules of 21–25 nucleotides in length that regulate the gene expression by base-pairing with the target mRNAs, mainly leading to down-regulation or repression of the target genes. MicroRNAs are involved in diverse regulatory pathways in normal and pathological conditions. In this context, it is highly important to identify the targets of specific microRNA in order to understand the mechanism of its regulation and consequently its involvement in disease. However, the microRNA target identification is experimentally laborious and time-consuming. The in silico prediction of microRNA targets is an extremely useful approach because you can identify potential mRNA targets, reduce the number of possibilities and then, validate a few microRNA–mRNA interactions in an in vitro experimental model. In this chapter, we describe, in a simple way, bioinformatics guidelines to use miRWalk database and Cytoscape software for analyzing microRNA–mRNA interactions through their visualization as a network.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Proyecto Mineduc-UDD PMI 1204 “De la ciencia a la innovación en salud: adopción en la actividad clínica, nacional e internacional, de nuevos productos, procesos y prácticas de clase mundial, basados en investigación científica de la UDD y de terceros.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Genética y Genómica, Facultad de Medicina, Clínica Alemana-Universidad del Desarrollo, Av. Las Condes 12438, Santiago, Chile

    Luis E. León

  2. Centro de Medicina Regenerativa, Facultad de Medicina, Clínica Alemana-Universidad del Desarrollo, Av. Las Condes 12438, Santiago, Chile

    Sebastián D. Calligaris

Authors
  1. Luis E. León
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  2. Sebastián D. Calligaris
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luis E. León .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Science, Waterford Institute of Technology, Waterford, Ireland

    Sweta Rani

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© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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León, L.E., Calligaris, S.D. (2017). Visualization and Analysis of MiRNA–Targets Interactions Networks. In: Rani, S. (eds) MicroRNA Profiling. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1509. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6524-3_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6524-3_19

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-6522-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-6524-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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