- TargetScanner
TargetScanner is designed as a GUI on top of the UNIX targetscan application made by Lewis et al, that predicts mammalian MicroRNA Targets. These microRNAs are very similar to the short interference RNAs that are used in iRNAi, but instead of inducing the degradation of a protein's messenger RNA, microRNA work by suppressing its translation. It is thought that these microRNAs play an important role in the control of transcription factors. TargetScanner helps to find potential microRNA target sites in the UTRs of gene transcripts. | Download >>
- What are microRNAs?
Endogenous small RNAs (miRNAs) regulate gene expression by mechanisms conserved across metazoans. Hundreds of verified miRNA genes have been found in diverse animals, and their number is still rapidly expanding. Their finding has led to a tremendous research interest that now starts to reveal how important these molecules are in processes like animal development and physiology, and human diseases including cancer.
miRNAs regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level by degradation or translational inhibition of mRNAs containing fully or partially homologous target sequences. In general, target genes that contain sequences completely complementary to the miRNA will be degraded by an RNA-interference mechanism, whereas targets with partial complementary sequences at their 3'UTR will be subjected to translation inhibition and to a lesser extent also to mRNA degradation. In mammals, a near-perfect complementarity between miRNAs and protein coding messenger RNAs almost never exists, making it difficult to directly pinpoint relevant downstream targets. Therefore, several algorithms have been developed that predict miRNA targets to some extent, including targetscan. - Reference
TargetScanner was used in: M. Voorhoeve, et al. Cell 2006 vol 124, pp. 1169-1181. | 
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The UNIX application targetscan was published in: B. Lewis, et al. Cell 2003 vol.115 pp.787-798. and B. Lewis, et al. Cell 2005 vol.120 pp.15-20. | Article 2003 | Article 2005 >>
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TargetScanner was successfully used in the Agami lab to identify miRNA372 and miRNA372 as oncogenes in testicular germ cell tumors. To learn more about this study, functional genetic screens using their custom build microRNA expression library, and other RNAi and microRNA tools, be sure to visit their website.