MicroRNAs(miRNAs)areendogenouslyexpressednon-codingRNAsof20-24nucleotides,whichpost-transcriptionallyregulategeneexpressioninplantsandanimals.RecentlyithasbeenrecognizedthatmiRNAscompriseoneoftheabundantgenefamiliesinmulticellularspecies,andtheirregulatoryfunctionsinvariousbiologicalprocessesarewidelyspread.Therehasbeenasurgeintheresearchactivitiesinthisfieldinthepastfewyears.Fromtheverybeginning,computationalmethodshavebeenutilizedasindispensabletools,andmanydiscoverieshavebeenobtainedthroughcombinationofexperimentalandcomputationalapproaches.Inthisreview,bothbiologicalandcomputationalaspectsofmiRNAwillbediscussed.AbriefhistoryofthediscoveryofmiRNAanddiscussionofmicroarrayapplicationsinmiRNAresearcharealsoincluded.
