Consistent isomiR expression patterns and 3' addition events in miRNA gene clusters and families implicate functional and evolutionary relationships.

3' addition events in miRNAs are widely detected and may contribute to miRNA stability, but little is known about details of the events in miRNA gene clusters and families. Here, we performed a comprehensive analysis of isomiR expression patterns and 3' additions in miRNA gene clusters and families by analyzing high-throughput sequencing dataset. According to dominant modified isomiRs, miRNA members in many miRNA gene clusters and families showed the same 3' additional non-template nucleotides. Although clustered miRNAs and homologous miRNAs had consistent or inconsistent expression levels, we found many of them showed consistent expression patterns at isomiR levels. These findings revealed similar processing mechanism and 3' modification event of miRNAs in gene clusters and families through miRNA maturation process. The consistent maturation mechanism may contribute to co-regulate biological processes, and may originate from ancestral miRNA genes through complex duplication history.