Abstract
MicroRNAs (miRNAs), the post-transcriptional gene regulators, are known to play an important role in plant development. The identification of differentially expressed miRNAs could better help us understand the post-transcriptional regulation that occurs during maize internode elongation. Accordingly, we compared the expression of MIRNAs between fixed internode and elongation internode samples and classified six differentially expressed MIRNAs as internode elongation-responsive miRNAs including zma-MIR160c, zma-MIR164b, zma-MIR164c, zma-MIR168a, zma-MIR396f, and zma-MIR398b, which target mRNAs supported by transcriptome sequencing. Functional enrichment analysis for predictive target genes showed that these miRNAs were involved in the development of internode elongation by regulating the genes respond to hormone signaling. To further reveal how miRNA affects internode elongation by affecting target genes, the miRNA–mRNA–PPI (protein and protein interaction) network was constructed to summarize the interaction of miRNAs and these target genes. Our results indicate that miRNAs regulate internode elongation in maize by targeting genes related to cell expansion, cell wall synthesis, transcription, and regulatory factors.
Highlights
The greatest improvements of maize (Zea mays L.) grain yield have been largely related to plant density and nitrogen fertilizer application [1,2]
Elongation transcriptome sequencing was performed on samples taken at different time points, which were in Through homologous analysis, we identified known miRNAs following the selection criteria for miRNA sequences with a length of at least 18 nt, and there were at most two mismatches compared with all known plant miRNA sequences in miRBase 22.1
By conjunction with the predicted miRNA targets, further analyzing and integrating expression profiles of microRNA and mRNA, we identified six miRNA–mRNA sets potentially involved in the regulation of internode elongation following the negative correlation
Summary
The greatest improvements of maize (Zea mays L.) grain yield have been largely related to plant density and nitrogen fertilizer application [1,2]. Excessive N fertilizer application and high planting density cause poor lodging resistance by forming weak basal internodes and increasing the height of the stem center of gravity [3,4]. Plant height is an important character that determines the resistance of plants to stalk lodging [8]. Stalk lodging positively correlates with the length of basal internodes [10,11]. Stalk lodging due to bending or breaking occurs most frequently at the third to fifth basal elongation internodes above ground, which is the seventh to ninth internodes of maize [12,13,14]. It is of great significance to study the elongation mechanism of maize internodes, especially the seventh to ninth elongation internodes, for maize plant height regulation and lodging resistance cultivation
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