Prediction of miRNA family based on class-incremental learning

With the development of deep sequencing, recent studies indicate that a miRNA precursor can generate multiple miRNA isoforms (isomiRs). The family prediction of canonical miRNAs and isomiRs could provide a basis for miRNA functional research. In this study, we propose a novel method for family identification of canonical miRNA and isomiRs based on incremental learning. First, a benchmark dataset is constructed by processing data based on miRNA sequences and their family annotation. Moreover, sequence embedding and RNN are used for capturing essential features and inherent dependencies within a sequence. Finally, incremental learning is applied to accommodate the continuous influx of miRNA sequencing data, enabling RNN to stay relevant and effective over time. Comparative experiments and ablation studies illustrate the effectiveness of our model, which can help to comprehensively understand miRNA’s function.