In this review, recent remarkable advances in the miRNA biogenetic and functional …

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Mechanisms of biogenesis and function
• Cell differentiation
• Cancer
• Drug discovery
• Perspective
• References
• Figure

It has been established that miRNAs play critical roles in cell differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis, and the abnormalities of specific miRNA expression contribute to the initiation and progression of tumor. However, identification of target mRNAs negatively regulated by miRNAs remain largely to be explored. Although up to hundreds of target genes toward a single miRNA were predicted by bioinformatics approaches (4), there is no comprehensive assay to biologically validate the prediction algorithm. Therefore, establishment of a method to comprehensively and rapidly identify target mRNAs for the miRNA is necessary for understanding biological and functional mechanisms of miRNA.