I am quite new with miRNAs and I have a basic question:
I want to clone a miRNA sequence into an expression vector for gene expression analysis, I don’t know wich sequence of miRNA must be cloned. Pre-mir or seed sequence?
I would recommend you to clone the pre-miR sequence +/- 100 nucleotides (100nt upstream and downstream of Drosha cleavage site at the base of the stem of the pre-miR). By doing so, you are on the safe side to have a good pri-miRNA substrate for Drosha cleavage. After this first processing, your pre-miRNA will be cleaved by Dicer and then your microRNA of interest will be loaded in Ago. You can check Narry Kim's papers for more informations.