Noncoding RNA Databases

Abstract

Diseases such as cancer are often defined by dysregulation of gene expression. Noncoding RNAs (ncRNA) such as microRNAs are involved in gene expression and cell-cell communication. Many other ncRNAs exist, such as circular RNAs and small nucleolar RNAs. A wealth of knowledge is available for many ncRNAs, but the information is federated in many databases. A small number of highly complementary ncRNA databases are discussed in this work. Their relevance for cancer research is highlighted, and some of the current problems and limitations are revealed. A central or shared database enforcing community reporting and quality standards is needed in the future. • RNA-seq • Noncoding RNAs • Databases • Data repositories.

Keywords: RNA-seq; cancer RNAs; data repositories; databases; noncoding RNAs; regulatory RNA.