miRBase: the microRNA sequence database.

The miRBase Sequence database is the primary repository for published microRNA (miRNA) sequence and annotation data. miRBase provides a user-friendly web interface for miRNA data, allowing the user to search using key words or sequences, trace links to the primary literature referencing the miRNA discoveries, analyze genomic coordinates and context, and mine relationships between miRNA sequences. miRBase also provides a confidential gene-naming service, assigning official miRNA names to novel genes before their publication. The methods outlined in this chapter describe these functions. miRBase is freely available to all at http://microrna.sanger.ac.uk/.