DIANA-microT v5.0

DIANA-microT v5.0 predicts microRNA (miRNA) targets and provides functional analysis of miRNA–target interactions.

Key Features:

• Advanced target prediction algorithm: Calculates parameters individually for each miRNA:target gene interaction and reports a signal-to-noise ratio and a precision score for each prediction.
• Performance benchmark: Achieved a 66% success rate in predicting known targets when tested against experimentally validated data.
• Multi-species database integration: Integrates with miRBase and Ensembl and supports Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Drosophila melanogaster, and Caenorhabditis elegans.
• Pathway and functional annotation: Provides functional information through Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway mappings.
• Workflow integration: Supports advanced multi-step functional miRNA analyses and integrates with the Taverna Workflow Management System via a custom plug-in.
• Disease association analysis: Associates miRNAs with diseases using bibliographic analysis.
• Genomic context mapping: Maps predicted binding sites to the UCSC Genome Browser alongside genomic tracks such as single nucleotide polymorphisms.

Scientific Applications:

• miRNA target identification: Identification and prioritization of candidate miRNA targets for experimental validation.
• Functional characterization: Linking miRNAs to KEGG pathways and gene functions to study their roles in cellular processes.
• Regulatory network analysis: Analysis of miRNA-mediated regulatory networks in developmental biology and disease mechanisms.
• High-throughput functional studies: Enabling large-scale miRNA functional analyses through workflow integration with Taverna.

Methodology:

Computationally calculates per miRNA:target interaction parameters and reports signal-to-noise ratios and precision scores, benchmarks predictions against experimentally validated data (66% success rate), performs bibliographic analysis for disease associations, maps predicted binding sites to UCSC Genome Browser tracks (including SNPs), and integrates workflow execution via a Taverna WMS plug-in.