Exploring Expert Databases

Each Expert Database has a page similar to the miRBase page (Figure 5) where you can find what database version is currently imported into RNAcentral and explore taxonomic coverage and sequence length distribution using interactive graphs.

miRBase Expert Database

Figure 12 The miRBase page in RNAcentral.

Sequence length distribution graph

The sequence length distribution graph can provide important insights about the data. 

For example, the graph below (Figure 13) shows that most sequences from miRBase are about 21 nucleotides long, which is consistent with the length of mature miRNAs. However, miRBase also provides the information about precursor miRNAs, which are more varied in length.

sequence length distribution graph

Figure 13 Sequence length distribution graph.

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Tip: Explore the data by clicking on the graph to a launch a search for sequences of specific length. View an example.

Species sunburst

The sunburst diagram shows what taxonomic groups the sequences are coming from (Figure 14). You can hover your mouse over the graph to explore the taxonomic distribution of species. See an example.

species sunburst

Figure 14 Species sunburst diagram.