A new resource to define the roles of microRNAs is announced in Nature Biotechnology. The resource, called mirKO, gives researchers access to tools to investigate the biological role and significance for human health of these enigmatic genes. mirKO is a 'library' of mutant mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells in which individual, or clustered groups of microRNA genes, have been deleted. Using these tools researchers can create cells or mice lacking specific microRNAs, study expression using fluorescent markers, or inactivate the gene in specific tissues or at specific times in development...
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