Abstract
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, 21–24 nucleotides in length, single stranded, derived from noncoding RNAs (MIR genes), target mRNAs, and indirectly affect numerous plant pathways. The noncoding miRNAs act as regulators of gene expression at transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels through cleavage of mRNAs, translational inhibition, RNA deadenylation, and DNA methylation. The fundamental food requirements of world will increase with rising global population of 9.8 billion by 2050. But the realm of agricultural growth and production faces challenges of climatic change, nutrient deficiency, abiotic stresses, plant-pathogen interactions, stagnant crop yield, and dwindling of cultivable land. The stress-responsive miRNAs are differentially expressed under various stresses in different plants. The miRNome-mediated regulatory molecular networks of developmental and biochemical processes, besides plant defense responses, are better understood. Molecular mechanisms underlying stress tolerance and resistance will lead to develop and deploy miRNA-mediated genome engineering for crop improvement in various agricultural crops. The microRNA-mediated molecular mechanisms play significant roles in regulation of plant responses to various abiotic stresses, comprising cold, salinity, heat, drought, oxidative stresses, and biotic stress responses of viral, bacterial, fungal, and nematode nature by the activation and repression of various plant defense pathways and designing of miRNA transgenics.
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