Identification of novel ovarian predominant miRNAs in medaka

The involvement of miRNAs during vertebrate oogenesis is poorly documented. Based on the assumption that ovarian-specific or ovarian-predominant genes usually play important roles during oogenesis, we searched for ovarian-predominant miRNAs in the medaka (Oryzias latipes) ovary. 10 tissus were collected from adult medaka (intestine, ovary, testis, liver, heart, gills, kidney, brain, muscle and bone) and RNAs were hybridized on a designed agilent microarray displaying 3800 distinct miRNAs from different teleost and vertebrate species. We identified 66 miRNAs sequences predominantly expressed in the ovary that had never been previously described in medaka. miRNAs expression was mesured in 10 different medaka tissus (intestinee, ovary, testis, liver, heart, gills, kidney, brain, muscle and bone). Four biological replicates were used for each tissue.