Django

The interaction between genetic factors and environmental factors has critical roles in determining the phenotype of an organism. In recent years, a number of studies have reported that the dysfunctions on microRNA (miRNAs), environmental factors and their interactions have strong effects on phenotypes and even may result in abnormal phenotypes and diseases, whereas there has been no a database linking miRNAs, environmental factors and phenotypes.

Numerous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with complex diseases have been identified by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) studies. However, few of these SNPs have explicit biological functions. Recent studies indicated that the SNPs within the 3'UTR regions of susceptibility genes could affect complex traits/diseases by affecting the function of miRNAs. These 3'UTR SNPs are functional candidates and therefore of interest to GWAS and eQTL researchers.

Small RNA research is a rapidly growing field. Apart from microRNAs, which are important regulators of gene expression, other types of functional small RNA molecules have been reported in animals and plants. MicroRNAs are important in host-microbe interactions and parasite microRNAs might modulate the innate immunity of the host. Furthermore, small RNAs can be detected in bodily fluids making them attractive non-invasive biomarker candidates.

RNA editing is a widespread post-transcriptional mechanism that can make a single base change on specific nucleotide sequence in an RNA transcript. RNA editing events can result in missense codon changes and modulation of alternative splicing in mRNA, and modification of regulatory RNAs and their binding sites in noncoding RNAs. Recent computational studies accurately detected more than 2 million A-to-I RNA editing sites from next-generation sequencing (NGS).