Table 1

microRNA databases: differences and similarities

Feature

miRBase

miRNAMap

miRGen

Argonaute

CoGemiR

Mature sequence

+

+

-

+

+

Description

+

+

-

+

+

Genome coordinates

+

+

+

+

+

Overlapping regions

+

+

+

+

+

List of clustered MicroRNA

+

-

+

-

+

Surrounding genomic region

+

-

-

-

+

Family

+

+

-

+

+

Predicted MicroRNAs

-

+

-

-

+

List of ortholog microRNA

+

+

-

+

+

Comparative microRNA overview ⁽¹⁾

-

-

-

-

+

Comparative location overview within species ⁽²⁾

-

-

+

-

+

Comparative location overview for any species ⁽³⁾

-

-

+

-

+

Annotation for many Metazoan

+ *

+

+

- **

+

Tissue specificity

-

+

-

-

+

Expression data

-

+

-

+

+

Link to target prediction

+

+

+

-

+

External links

+

-

-

-

+

Target section

+

-

+

-

-

List of targets

-

+

-

+

-

Stem-loop structure

+

+

-

-

+ ***

Multiple microRNAs queries ⁽⁴⁾

-

-

-

-

+

(1) The possibility to see the same microRNA in all species

(2) The possibility to see the same localization (e.g., intronic) within a species

(3) The possibility to see the same localization (e.g., intronic) in all species

(4) The possibility to submit a list of microRNAs as query

* Plus plants

** only Human, Mouse and Rat

*** only for predictions

Maselli et al. BMC Genomics 2008 9:457   doi:10.1186/1471-2164-9-457