Argonaute—a database for gene regulation by mammalian microRNAs

MicroRNAs are a class of small non-coding RNAs that regulate target gene expression by destabilizing target mRNA or inhibiting translation, and they are involved in processes such as cellular differentiation, proliferation, apoptosis, and cancer. To support cancer research in mammalian model systems, the authors built Argonaute, a curated database that compiles comprehensive information on mammalian miRNAs drawn from the literature and other existing databases such as miRBase, NONCODE, and RNAdb.

Beyond what earlier miRNA databases offered, Argonaute additionally records each miRNA's host gene of origin, its tissue-specific expression, its known or proposed function, its predicted target genes with Gene Ontology annotation, miRNA families, and proteins involved in miRNA processing. Its web interface lets users query single or multiple miRNAs and links target genes to an information retrieval system spanning sequence databases and MEDLINE, and at the time of publication it hosted information on 839 miRNAs from human, mouse, and rat.