Journal Article

Identification of aluminum-responsive microRNAs in Medicago truncatula by genome-wide high-throughput sequencing

Wang, Tianzuo, Tian, Qiuying, Zhao, Mingui, Zhang, Wen-Hao, Chen, Lei

2012

Overview

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in response of plants to biotic and abiotic stresses. Aluminum (Al) toxicity is a major factor limiting plant growth in acidic soils. However, there has been limited report on the involvement of miRNAs in response of plants to toxic Al³⁺. To identify Al³⁺-responsive miRNAs at wholegenome level, high-throughput sequencing technology was used to sequence libraries constructed from root apices of the model legume plant Medicago truncatula treated with and without Al³⁺. High-throughput sequencing of the control and two Al³⁺-treated libraries led to generation of 17.1, 14.1 and 17.4 M primary reads, respectively. We identified 326 known miRNAs and 21 new miRNAs. Among the miRNAs, expression of 23 miRNAs was responsive to Al³⁺, and the majority of Al³⁺-responsive mRNAs was down-regulated. We further classified the Al³⁺-responsive miRNAs into three groups based on their expression patterns: rapid-responsive, late-responsive and sustained-responsive miRNAs. The majority of Al³⁺-responsive miRNAs belonged to the 'rapid-responsive' category, i.e. they were responsive to short-term, but not long-term Al³⁺ treatment. The Al³⁺-responsive miRNAs were also verified by quantitative real-time PCR. The potential targets of the 21 new miRNAs were predicted to be involved in diverse cellular processes in plants, and their potential roles in Al³⁺-induced inhibition of root growth were discussed. These findings provide valuable information for functional characterization of miRNAs in Al³⁺ toxicity and tolerance.

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag,Springer,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: acid soils / Acidic soils / Agriculture / Alfalfa / Aluminum / Aluminum - metabolism / Aluminum Compounds / Aluminum Compounds - pharmacology / Auxins / Biological and medical sciences / Biomedical and Life Sciences / biotic stress / Chlorides / Chlorides - pharmacology / classification / drug effects / Ecology / Forestry / Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology / Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Gene Library / genetics / Genome, Plant / growth & development / High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing / High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing - methods / isolation & purification / legumes / Libraries / Life Sciences / Medicago truncatula / Medicago truncatula - drug effects / Medicago truncatula - genetics / Medicago truncatula - growth & development / Medicago truncatula - metabolism / messenger RNA / metabolism / methods / MicroRNA / MicroRNAs / MicroRNAs - classification / MicroRNAs - genetics / MicroRNAs - metabolism / Nucleic Acid Conformation / Original Article / pharmacology / Plant cells / Plant growth / plant response / Plant Roots / Plant Roots - drug effects / Plant Roots - genetics / Plant Roots - growth & development / Plant Roots - metabolism / Plant Sciences / Plants / polymerase chain reaction / Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / RNA / RNA Precursors / RNA Precursors - genetics / RNA Precursors - metabolism / RNA, Plant / RNA, Plant - genetics / RNA, Plant - isolation & purification / RNA, Plant - metabolism / Root growth / roots / Sequencing / Small interfering RNA / toxicity