Regulation of miRNA binding sites during CP differentiation.

Transcriptionally regulated genes annotated as miRNAs and genes containing alternative exons overlapping with predicted miRNA binding sites. Analysis of gene transcription data from the Affymetrix exon array, highlights 26 Ensembl annotated miRNA genes differentially expressed with CP differentiation (up- or downregulated >2 with a t test p<0.05) out of 216 probed on the array and in Ensembl. Of the 13,583 genes analyzed for alternative exon expression, 11,085 had probe sets containing at least one predicted miRNA binding site. The pattern of alternative exon expression is indicated for hESCs relative to CPs. Upregulation indicates that the alternative exon containing a putative miRNA binding site is expressed at a higher level in hESCs than CPs, relative to constitutive expression levels. Genes with up- and downregulation of miRNA binding sites indicates that more than one alternative exon with miRNA binding site(s) was present having opposite expression patterns.