Identification of conserved and novel microRNAs in Aquilaria sinensis based on small RNA sequencing and transcriptome sequence data

Abstract

Agarwood is in great demand for its high value in medicine, incense, and perfume across Asia, Middle East, and Europe. As agarwood is formed only when the Aquilaria trees are wounded or infected by some microbes, overharvesting and habitat loss are threatening some populations of agarwood-producing species. Aquilaria sinensis is such a significant economic tree species. To promote the production efficiency and protect the resource of A. sinensis, it would be critical to reveal the regulation mechanisms of stress-induced agarwood formation. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a key gene expression regulator involved in various plant stress response and metabolic processes, might function in agarwood formation, but no report concerning miRNAs in Aquilaria is available. In this study, the small RNA high-throughput sequencing and 454 transcriptome data were adopted to identify both conserved and novel miRNAs in A. sinensis. Deep sequencing showed that the small RNA (sRNA) population of A. sinensis was complex and the length of sRNAs varied. By in silico analysis of the small RNA deep sequencing data and transcriptome data, we discovered 27 novel miRNAs in A. sinensis. Based on the mature miRNA sequence conservation, we identified 74 putative conserved miRNAs from A. sinensis and 10 of them were confirmed with hairpin forming precursor. Interestingly, a novel miRNA sequence was determined to be the miRNA* of asi-miR408, but with accumulation much higher than asi-miR408. The expression levels of ten stress-responsive miRNAs were examined during the time-course after wound treatment. Eight were shown to be wound-responsive. This not only shows the existence of miRNAs in this Asian economically significant tree species but also indicated its critical role in stress-induced agarwood formation. The highly accumulated miRNA* of asi-miR408 implied miRNA*s would be functional as well as miRNAs in plants.