Combined small RNA and gene expression analysis revealed roles of miRNAs in maize response to rice black-streaked dwarf virus infection

Aiqin Li,Chang-Le Ma,Han Xia,Shuzhen Zhao,Zhaodong Meng,Changsheng Li,Guanghui Li,Yuhan Zhao,Xingjun Wang,Chuanzhi Zhao,Lei Hou,Meng Zhao,Ye Zhang,Pengcheng Li

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-31919-z

Abstract

Maize rough dwarf disease, caused by rice black-streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV), is a devastating disease in maize (Zea mays L.). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are known to play critical roles in regulation of plant growth, development, and adaptation to abiotic and biotic stresses. To elucidate the roles of miRNAs in the regulation of maize in response to RBSDV, we employed high-throughput sequencing technology to analyze the miRNAome and transcriptome following RBSDV infection. A total of 76 known miRNAs, 226 potential novel miRNAs and 351 target genes were identified. Our dataset showed that the expression patterns of 81 miRNAs changed dramatically in response to RBSDV infection. Transcriptome analysis showed that 453 genes were differentially expressed after RBSDV infection. GO, COG and KEGG analysis results demonstrated that genes involved with photosynthesis and metabolism were significantly enriched. In addition, twelve miRNA-mRNA interaction pairs were identified, and six of them were likely to play significant roles in maize response to RBSDV. This study provided valuable information for understanding the molecular mechanism of maize disease resistance, and could be useful in method development to protect maize against RBSDV.

Highlights

Maize is one of the most important and widely distributed crops in the world, providing more than a billion tons of human food and animal feed every year (FAO, http://faostat.fao.org/)
Maize B73 was naturally infected by rice black-streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV) in the field where the Maize Rough Dwarf Disease happened seriously
To identify small RNAs from maize, two libraries generated using RBSDV infected plants (TL1 and TL2) and two libraries (CL1 and CL2) generated using the control plants were constructed for high-throughput sequencing

Summary

Introduction

Maize is one of the most important and widely distributed crops in the world, providing more than a billion tons of human food and animal feed every year (FAO, http://faostat.fao.org/). Gene expression profile of RBSDV-infected maize was investigated using microarray, and the results demonstrated that the expressions of various resistance-related genes, cell wall and development related genes were altered[7]. These results provided valuable information to uncover the molecular mechanisms to understand symptom development in rough dwarf-related diseases. Numerous miRNAs have been reported to be induced by pathogen infection and contribute to the gene expression reprogramming in host defense responses. The expression of 14 stress-regulated rice miRNAs was induced by southern rice black-streaked dwarf virus (SRBSDV) infection[10]. There is no report about miRNA response in maize upon RBSDV infection

Methods

Results

Conclusion