Fig. 5

Evolutionary trends of target sites of broadly conserved miRNAs. A Fraction of the number of species in which “non-conserved” and conserved sites of all broadly conserved miRNAs are conserved. B Density and contour plots showing the distribution of BLS values and the number of species in which sites are conserved, as in A. Vertical and horizontal dashed lines indicate BLC cutoffs (1.8 for 8mer, 2.8 for 7mer-m8, and 3.6 for 7mer-A1) and the species number threshold (n = 62), respectively. C Conservation patterns of non-conserved sites, conserved sites, and two classes of conserved sites across 84 vertebrate species (according to the species number threshold (n = 62)). D Comparison of TargetScan miRNA classification and MirGeneDB miRNA classification (evolutionary nodes of origin (locus)). E, F Fraction of the number of species in which “non-conserved” and conserved sites for each miRNA group in TargetScan classification (E) and MirGeneDB classification (F, five major groups: Vertebrata, Gnathostomata, Eutheria, Catarrhini, and H. sapiens) are conserved. The top panels show the fraction of highly conserved sites for each miRNA group