Viral microRNA genomics and target validation.

A subset of viruses express their own microRNAs (miRNAs) and one way to understand the functions of these microRNAs is to identify the targets of these miRNAs. Sequence analysis and mRNA expression profiling were some of the first techniques to identify targets of viral miRNAs. More recently, proteomics and sequencing of RNA by crosslinking and immunoprecipitation (CLIP) methods have been insightful and discovered many miRNA targets that may be missed using other methods. We are now at a point where numerous validated miRNA targets have been described and integration of these genomic datasets will provide a richer understanding of miRNA targeting and viral infection, persistence, and pathogenesis.