Browsing by Author "Yakubu, Blessing Saleh N."

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    BIOCOMPUTATIONAL GENOME-WIDE ANALYSIS OF MICRO RNA GENETIC VARIABILITY IN SOME VERTEBRATES
    (Department of Animal Science, Nasarawa State University, Keffi., 2013-12-12) Yakubu, Abdulmojeed; Musa Azara, I.S; DAIKWO, Sylvester I.; Yakubu, Blessing Saleh N.; Vincent, Samuel Ter; MOMOH, Ojo Michael; DIM, Ndubuisi I.
    MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small endogenously expressed singlestranded RNAs that regulate gene expression post transcriptionally and shape diverse cellular pathways. miRNAs regulate a wide range of biological processes through the recognition of complementary sequences between miRNAs and their target genes. The present investigation aimed at determining in-silico the genetic variability of miRNA genes in some livestock and nonlivestock species. Effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes’ 3'UTR on target gain/loss of human miRNAs were also explored. A total of twenty four mature miRNA sequences and genomic coordinates in three livestock [chicken (5), pig (1) and cattle (9)] and two non-livestock (human (6) and mouse (3)] species were retrieved from the miRBase 15 release. Computational scanning of polymorphisms in the miRNAs revealed 33 and 20 polymorphic sites in livestock and non-livestock species, respectively. Of this, 7 (chicken), 11 (cattle) and 2 (mouse) were located within the seed region. The de novo computational prediction revealed that SNPs rs1042725 (C/U) and rs1044129 (A/G) in genes’ 3'UTR of human miRNAs positively influenced the target site thereby resulting in target gain. However, the effects of SNPs rs56109847 (A/G), rs28927680, rs12720208 (G/A) and rs5186 (A/C) were negative. The evolutionary tree showed that the relationship between miRNA consensus sequences of livestock (pig, chicken and cattle) was closer compared to non-livestock species (mouse and human), which could be implicated in morphological complexity among vertebrates. Although the function of miRNA is only beginning to be understood, future in-silico research evaluating the functional effect of miRNA in gene translation and subsequent biological pathways especially in livestock is of paramount importance; and this should be complemented with hypothesis-driven experimental studies to evaluate the phenotypic effect of identified miRNA genetic polymorphisms in animals.