Abstract
Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvel. is a perennial rhizome grass of the Poaceae (also called Gramineae) family, which adapts well to drought, saline and alkaline conditions. However, little is known about the stress tolerance of L. chinensis at the molecular level. microRNAs (miRNAs) are known to play critical roles in nutrient homeostasis, developmental processes, pathogen responses, and abiotic stress in plants. In this study, we used Solexa sequencing technology to generate high-quality small RNA data from three L. chinensis groups: a control group, a saline-alkaline stress group (100 mM NaCl and 200 mM NaHCO3), and a drought stress group (20% polyethylene glycol 2000). From these data we identified 132 known miRNAs and 16 novel miRNAs candidates. For these miRNAs we also identified target genes that encode a broad range of proteins that may be correlated with abiotic stress regulation. This is the first study to demonstrate differentially expressed miRNAs in L. chinensis under saline-alkali and drought stress. These findings may help explain the saline-alkaline and drought stress responses in L. chinensis.
Highlights
Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvel. is a perennial rhizome grass of the Poaceae family, which is distributed widely throughout the northern temperate areas of Eurasia [1]
Many recent studies have demonstrated that plant miRNAs are involved in environmental stress tolerance [22] and some stressregulated miRNAs have been shown to be involved in the cell response to abiotic stresses such as salinity, cold and dehydration [23,24]
Much attention has been devoted to the identification of components involved in signal transduction pathways, such as abscisic acid signaling, because they are known to participate in responses against the adverse effects of different stresses, such as salinity and drought [25,26]
Summary
Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvel. is a perennial rhizome grass of the Poaceae family, which is distributed widely throughout the northern temperate areas of Eurasia [1]. Because L. chinensis adapts well to drought, saline, alkaline and low temperature conditions, it is cultivated on alkaline land, which means it has an important role to play in the protection of the environment [2]. Several plant miRNAs that are involved in stress responses are regulated by abiotic stresses, including drought, high salinity, and low temperatures. The expression levels of rice miR393 change under salinity and alkaline stresses and its putative target genes are related to abiotic stress [4], while miR169 plays an essential role in drought resistance in tomato [5]. Recent studies have shown that a number of other differentially expressed miRNAs are involved in stress regulation [6,7,8] Overall, these studies suggest that miRNAs and their target mRNAs play important roles in stress tolerance. It is becoming increasingly evident that miRNAs play an important role in plant development and resistance to biotic as well as abiotic stresses
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