MirCompare

MirCompare compares plant and mammalian microRNAs to identify sequence-based functional homologies that predict cross-kingdom regulatory interactions.

Key Features:

• Cross-Kingdom Functional Homology Analysis: Identifies sequence homologies that enable plant miRNAs to regulate gene expression in mammalian cells analogous to endogenous miRNA mechanisms.
• Algorithmic Comparison: Employs a dedicated algorithm to systematically compare plant and mammalian miRNA sequences by searching for functional sequence similarities to predict potential regulation of human genes.
• Experimental Validation: Includes experimentally supported predictions such as mol-miR168a downregulating SIRT1 protein expression in the human hepatoma cell line HEPG2.
• Network Perturbation Analysis: Assesses how exogenous miRNAs may perturb intracellular interaction networks within mammalian cells.

Scientific Applications:

• Cross-kingdom interaction studies: Enables investigation of functional interactions between plant-derived and mammalian miRNAs.
• Therapeutic candidate identification: Supports prediction of plant-derived miRNAs that could modulate human gene expression for research into therapeutic applications.
• Post-transcriptional regulation research: Contributes to studies of post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms across species.

Methodology:

Uses a dedicated algorithm to compare plant and mammalian miRNA sequences by searching for functional sequence homologies and performs network perturbation analyses as described.