Abstract
BackgroundMicroRNAs (miRNAs) are noncoding RNAs of approximately 21 nt that regulate gene expression in plants post-transcriptionally by endonucleolytic cleavage or translational inhibition. miRNAs play essential roles in numerous developmental and physiological processes and many of them are conserved across species. Extensive studies of miRNAs have been done in a few model plants; however, less is known about the diversity of these regulatory RNAs in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.), one of the most important oilseed crops cultivated worldwide.ResultsA library of small RNA from peanut was constructed for deep sequencing. In addition to 126 known miRNAs from 33 families, 25 novel peanut miRNAs were identified. The miRNA* sequences of four novel miRNAs were discovered, providing additional evidence for the existence of miRNAs. Twenty of the novel miRNAs were considered to be species-specific because no homolog has been found for other plant species. qRT-PCR was used to analyze the expression of seven miRNAs in different tissues and in seed at different developmental stages and some showed tissue- and/or growth stage-specific expression. Furthermore, potential targets of these putative miRNAs were predicted on the basis of the sequence homology search.ConclusionsWe have identified large numbers of miRNAs and their related target genes through deep sequencing of a small RNA library. This study of the identification and characterization of miRNAs in peanut can initiate further study on peanut miRNA regulation mechanisms, and help toward a greater understanding of the important roles of miRNAs in peanut.
Highlights
MicroRNAs are endogenous tiny RNAs (,21 nt in length) that can play important regulatory roles in animals and plants by targeting mRNAs for cleavage or translational repression
Interest in miRNAs has attracted the attention of many scientists, and hundreds of plant miRNAs and their targets have been identified by experimental or computational approaches, the majority of studies are focused on two model plant species: Arabidopsis thaliana and rice (Oryza sativa) [3,5]
The biogenesis of plant miRNAs is a complex multi-step enzymatic process [7,9,10]. miRNAs are initially transcribed by RNA polymerase II in the cell nucleus as long primary miRNAs that are cleaved into miRNA:miRNA* duplexes by the enzyme Dicerlike 1 (DCL1)
Summary
MicroRNAs (miRNA) are endogenous tiny RNAs (,21 nt in length) that can play important regulatory roles in animals and plants by targeting mRNAs for cleavage or translational repression. DCL4 has been shown to play a role in the biogenesis of a few miRNAs with long hairpin precursors [14]. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are noncoding RNAs of approximately 21 nt that regulate gene expression in plants post-transcriptionally by endonucleolytic cleavage or translational inhibition. MiRNAs play essential roles in numerous developmental and physiological processes and many of them are conserved across species. Extensive studies of miRNAs have been done in a few model plants; less is known about the diversity of these regulatory RNAs in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.), one of the most important oilseed crops cultivated worldwide
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