01-P014 Complement and genomic distribution of miRNAs in deuterostomes: Conservation and diversification of the miRNA regulatory network

miRNA 5 end being fully complementary to the target mRNA, with binding of the 3 miRNA end varying. Many predictive algorithms have been produced to identify potential miRNA-target pairs. However many ignore full and near-full complementarity miRNA-mRNA pairs as they are considered unusual or potential false positives. However miRNA-mRNA pairs of this nature have been previously verified as functional in regulating a Hox gene (Yekta etal., 2004). Here we conducted a bioinformatics exploration of the possible full and near-full (to a maximum of 3 GU wobbles) miRNA-mRNA interactions across a number of different species (mouse, rat, human, chimp). We then assessed the candidate miRNA-mRNA pairs for their quality as probable targets with a specific focus in their possible involvement in developmental pathways.