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3' UTRs are important portions of mRNAs required for post-transcriptional regulation by interacting with proteins or non-coding RNAs (e.g. microRNAs). To study the role of 3'UTRs we are building a 3'UTR database for C. elegans.
The UTRome.org database is intended as a comprehensive resource for 3'UTR biology in C. elegans. The database provides detailed information on 3'UTR structures for all protein-coding mRNAs, and includes annotations extracted from other databases (such as WormBase and PicTar) as well as new annotations generated as part of the NYU 3'UTRome project (including preliminary characterization of 3'UTR clones, USTs (UTR sequence tags), curated sequences, and computational and experimental analysis of functional elements). Examples of functional elements within 3'UTRs include predicted and validated microRNA (miRNA) binding sites (responsible for post-transcriptional gene regulation), putative consensus signals for polyA addition, and predicted secondary structures (which may influence the biological activity of 3'UTRs). The UTRome project is part of the ModEncode Consortium, an NIH initiative to characterize at a genomic scale functional sequence elements encoded in the worm (C. elegans) and fly (D. melanogaster) genomes.
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