Abstract
The regulation of mRNA (messenger RNA) levels by microRNA-mediated activity is especially important in plant responses to environmental stresses. In this work, we report six novel barley microRNAs, including two processed from the same precursor that are severely downregulated under drought conditions. For all analyzed microRNAs, we found target genes that were upregulated under drought conditions and that were known to be involved in a plethora of processes from disease resistance to chromatin–protein complex formation and the regulation of transcription in mitochondria. Targets for novel barley microRNAs were confirmed through degradome data analysis and RT-qPCR using primers flanking microRNA-recognition site. Our results show a broad transcriptional response of barley to water deficiency conditions through microRNA-mediated gene regulation and facilitate further research on drought tolerance in crops.
Highlights
Throughout the course of evolution, plants have developed various mechanisms to alter the expression of genes governing physiological processes in response to changing environmental conditions
We confirmed the presence of putative microRNAs and found that generally during the barley development, miR168-3p and miR1432-5p levels increase while the 50 U-miR156-5p level decreases [32]
We report the identification of six novel barley microRNAs, their expression through barley organs and developmental stages (1, 2, 3, 6 week and 68th day) and evidence of their involvement in the response of barley to drought stress
Summary
Throughout the course of evolution, plants have developed various mechanisms to alter the expression of genes governing physiological processes in response to changing environmental conditions. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) represent the main class of gene expression regulators that are important in shaping these processes. MicroRNAs belong to a class of small non-coding RNAs that are usually 21 nt in length. Plant microRNA genes (MIRs) are transcribed by RNA polymerase II, and primary MIR transcripts (pri-miRNAs) fold into a hairpin structure containing microRNA and its complementary partner, passenger strand- microRNA*. Hairpin structure is further processed by the RNase III enzyme DICER. LIKE I (DCL1), which cleaves longer transcripts (pri-miRNA) to shorter pre-miRNAs [1,2]. Subsequent cleavages lead to the release of a miRNA/miRNA* duplex that is further methylated by Hua Enhancer 1
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