Mean new microRNA data analysis method gives sharper results.

Our understanding of the importance of microRNAs in regulating gene expression is expanding, and with it our requirement for robust methods to measure their expression levels. Now a new method published in BioMed Central's open access journal Genome Biology helps researchers to better understand the delicate interplay between differences in microRNA expression levels and their target genes (see also BioMed Central).

Following their highly cited method for the analysis of reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) expression data for mRNA transcripts, published in Genome Biology in 2007, Jo Vandesompele of the Center for Medical Genetics, Ghent University Hospital, Belgium and colleagues have created an innovative, straightforward and universally applicable method for quantitative RT-PCR data normalization for microRNAs. The researchers also provide a workflow for proper data normalization of both large scale (whole miRNome) and small-scale microRNA profiling experiments in their paper.

Vandesompele's team profiled 430 microRNAs along with 18 small RNA controls for a number of independent tissue sample sets. They assessed the use of the mean expression value of all expressed microRNAs in a given sample as a normalization factor for microRNA real-time quantitative PCR data, and then compared this method with the currently adopted approach of relying on one or two small RNA controls.

The mean expression value outperforms the current normalization strategy by better reducing technical variation and more ...