MicroRNA target prediction

The current edition of miRBase, version 16, lists more than 17000 microRNAs. Clearly, a challenge ahead will be to identify the targets of all these small RNAs. Since each microRNA can target several mRNA sequences, this will be a daunting task and will require the aid of computational target prediction tools. However, most traditional bioinformatics tools require longer sequences than the ~20 nucleotides offered by microRNAs. In addition, microRNAs are only partially complementary to their mRNA target sequences, which makes identifying them even more difficult. Nevertheless, a number of algorithms have been developed which can be used for microRNA target prediction (Table 1).