ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the potential of small RNAs as molecular tools, in identification and functional characterization of genes, using muscle differentiation and cancer as model biological processes in cell culture system. Whereas skeletal muscle differentiation is most commonly characterized by the terminal withdrawal of cells from the cell cycle and their fusion to form multinucleated cells that are enriched in muscle-specific proteins. The cancer cells is a highly complicated disorder in which multiplex of genetic and environmental factors contribute. For cancer studies, a variety of tumors derived or in vitro immortalized cell lines are used to elucidate the cancer signaling, key genes and drug targets. One of the approaches for identification of cancer targets is the “loss-of-function” assay in which the genes are knocked down and the abrogation of a cell death by drugs is monitored in cell-based assays. Recently, high-throughput sequencing technologies have been developed that also enable miRNA expression analysis.
