miRBase: the microRNA database

MicroRNAs是微小的RNA序列，存在于所有动植物的细胞中。它们的作用是调节基因组中其他基因的蛋白质生产--例如，据预测，人类基因组中已知的2,500个microRNAs调控着20000-25000个人类基因中的大约三分之二。微RNA已被证明在细胞的几乎所有功能中以及在包括癌症和神经退行性疾病在内的大量疾病中都是重要的。直到2001年，人们才发现microRNAs如此普遍。MiRBase数据库很快就建立了，以便在发现microRNA时对其进行编目，并为microRNA社区提供一系列服务。例如，miRBase为新发现的microRNA命名，以确保相同的microRNA在不同的出版物中以相同的名称被引用。MiRBase还充当中心资源，随时可以从中检索到最新的一组microRNAs，以及它们在基因组中的位置、发现它们的方法、描述它们的科学出版物以及与包含相关信息的其他数据库的链接。这些功能帮助microRNA领域以惊人的速度增长。仅在2013年，就有8400份关于microRNA的科学出版物。MiRbase目前包含223个物种的35828个microRNA的条目。世界上几乎每个microRNA研究人员都在使用miRbase。这些用户包括那些研究microRNA在疾病和其他细胞过程中的作用的人，也包括那些制造试剂盒和资源以允许实验生物学家检测和操纵microRNA的公司。每月约有40000至50000不同用户使用miRbase网站，8 000多种科学出版物中都提到miRbase。根据这项提议开展的工作将确保miRbase数据库的基本功能继续可用。它还将为资源的下一阶段开发做好准备。特别是，我们将开发网络工具，允许microRNA研究人员访问和使用由所谓的深度测序方法产生的海量microRNA数据。我们还将扩大数据库，以包括有关受microRNAs调控的基因的信息，同样是来自深度测序数据。

MicroRNAs are tiny RNA sequences that are found in the cells of all animals and plants. Their role is to regulate the production of proteins from other genes in the genome - it is predicted that the 2500 known microRNAs in the human genome regulate around two thirds of the 20000-25000 human genes, for example. MicroRNAs have been shown to be important in essentially all functions in the cell and in a large number of diseases, including cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. MicroRNAs were only discovered to be so widespread in 2001. The miRBase database was established soon after to catalog microRNAs as they are discovered, and to provide a range of services to the microRNA community. For example, miRBase assigns names to new microRNA discoveries, to ensure that the same microRNA is referred to by the same name in different publications. miRBase also acts as the central resource from which the most up-to-date set of microRNAs can always be retrieved, together with their locations in the genome, the methods by which they were found, the scientific publications that describe them, and links to other databases that contain related information. These functions have helped the microRNA field to grow at a tremendous rate. In 2013 alone, there were 8400 scientific publications about microRNAs. miRBase currently contains entries on 35828 microRNAs in 223 species.miRBase is used by essentially every microRNA researcher in the world. These users include those who study the roles of microRNAs in disease and other cellular processes, but also companies who make kits and resources to allow experimental biologists to detect and manipulate microRNAs. The miRBase website is used by around 40000-50000 different users each month, and miRBase has been mentioned in over 8000 scientific publications.The work that will be carried out under this proposal will ensure the continued availability of the essential functions of the miRBase database. It will also provide for the next phase of development of the resource. In particular, we will develop web tools that allow microRNA researchers to access and use the huge quantities of microRNA data that are being produced by so-called deep sequencing methods. We will also expand the database to include information about the genes that are regulated by microRNAs, again from deep sequencing data.