Figure 5. Tissue bias in microRNA target predictions.

Our tissue-specific expression predictions allow us to systematically evaluate which C. elegans microRNA genes have a tissue bias in their predicted targets and thus are candidates for regulating tissue specific processes. For each microRNA gene we evaluate list of potential targets (as generated by three target prediction algorithms) against our tissue expression prediction scores using a rank test. (Average AUC is plotted, (*) indicates the interaction was significant (p<0.01) based on two out of three target sets, (**) was significant in all three. For each microRNA-tissue pair, enrichment (red) signifies that the targets of that microRNA are predicted to express in that tissue with scores that are significantly higher than would be expected if no bias is present. Avoidance (green) signifies that the microRNA targets have expression prediction scores that are significantly lower than expected. Since microRNAs down-regulate the levels of their targets, avoidance in one tissue coupled with preference in several others may imply involvement in differentiation, whereby the microRNA downregulates alternative tissue expression profiles.