Computational Identification of MicroRNAs From Ssdna Viruses

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression and the fact that they are associated with variousdisease phenotypes is one of the main reasons for their importance. The complexity of experimental detection of miRNAs dueto their characteristics led to the development of computational methods. In this work, a machine learning based approach wasapplied to identify and analyze potential miRNAs that might be originated from 60 single strand DNA (ssDNA) viruses’genomes. The results suggest that 53 of these viruses may possibly produce proper miRNA precursors. Moreover, thepossibility of these candidate miRNA precursors’ ability to generate mature miRNAs that could target human genes and viralgenomes has been tested. Overall, the outcomes of this research indicate that there might be another level of host-virusinteraction through miRNAs which requires further experimental confirmation.