Abstract
BackgroundmiRNAs are a type of conserved, small RNA molecule that regulate gene expression and play an important role in the growth and development of plants. miRNAs are involved in seed germination, root development, shoot apical meristem maintenance, leaf development, and flower development by regulating various target genes. However, the role of miRNAs in the mechanism of tea plant flower sterility remains unclear. Therefore, we performed miRNA sequencing on the flowers of fertile male parents, female parents, and sterile offspring.ResultsA total of 55 known miRNAs and 90 unknown miRNAs were identified. In the infertile progeny, 37 miRNAs were differentially expressed; 18 were up-regulated and 19 were down-regulated. miR156, miR157, miR164, miR167, miR169, miR2111 and miR396 family members were down-regulated, and miR160, miR172 and miR319 family members were up-regulated. Moreover, we predicted that the 37 differentially expressed miRNAs target a total of 363 genes, which were enriched in 31 biological functions. We predicted that miR156 targets 142 genes, including ATD1A, SPL, ACA1, ACA2, CKB22 and MADS2.ConclusionWe detected a large number of differentially expressed miRNAs in the sterile tea plant flowers, and their target genes were involved in complex biological processes. Among these miRNAs, the down-regulation of miR156 may be one of the factor in the formation of sterile floral buds in tea plants.
Highlights
Tea is one of the most popular and widely consumed beverages in the world
Small RNA sequencing data In order to explore the role of miRNAs in the regulation of tea plant flower development, we used highthroughput sequencing to construct miRNA libraries of FBH, MBH and Hybrid sterile flowers (ZDH)
The length of plant small RNA ranged from 18 ~ 30 nt, and a total of 11,704,253, 14,693,758 and 13,045, 116 small RNA sequence read were identified for FBH, MBH and ZDH, respectively (Table 2)
Summary
Tea is one of the most popular and widely consumed beverages in the world. As such, producers expect tea varieties to have high yield [1]. The process of tea plant flowering indicates that the energy of nutrition turns to reproductive growth, which will compete for MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a type of endogenous, noncoding, single-stranded RNA molecule composed of about 21 to 25 nucleotides (nt) in length that exist widely across organisms and are quite conserved [3]. Mutations in miRNA target genes cause defects in plant development [12], indicating that miRNAs play an important role in promoting plant survival. MiRNAs are a type of conserved, small RNA molecule that regulate gene expression and play an important role in the growth and development of plants. MiRNAs are involved in seed germination, root development, shoot apical meristem maintenance, leaf development, and flower development by regulating various target genes. We performed miRNA sequencing on the flowers of fertile male parents, female parents, and sterile offspring
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