Takane et al. BMC Genomics 2010, 11:101 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/11/101 Author details 1Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Keio University, Tsuruoka 997-0017, Japan. 2Systems Biology Program, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa 252-8520, Japan. Authors’ contributions KT participated in all aspects of the study. KF contributed to the overall conception of this work and performed the functional profiling of miRNA- targeted genes. YW supported the design of the target-gene extraction procedure and validated new miRNA target candidates using transfection and luciferase reporter assay experiments. AS constructed the experimental system. NS participated in the validation of new miRNA target candidates using transfection and luciferase reporter assay experiments. MT supervised the project. AK participated in the experimental design and drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. 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