Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1
Associate Professor, Department of Genetic and Plant Breeding, Khorramabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Khorramabad, Iran
2
Researcher, Young Researchers and Elite Club, Khorramabad branch, Islamic Azad University, Khorramabad, Iran
3
Assistant Professor, Department of Agriculture, Kangavar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kangavar, Iran
Abstract
The Oat (Avena sativa L.), is a plant of the Poaceae family and is one of the important crops in the world. Despite the high nutritional value, there is no annotated reference genome and there is no report of microRNA identification for this plant. In the present study, 733 million short reads was used to identify the conserved miRNAs and to investigate the expression of their target genes in the drought and salt-stressed leaf transcriptome of oat. Out of a total of 73419 assembled unigenes, 1419 non-coding unigenes were identified and considered as miRNA precursor. Finally, among non-coding unigenes, eight miRNAs named asa-miR5181b, asa-miR5049a-3p, asa-miR169d-5p, asa-miR5181a, asa-miR2118b-5p, asa-miR5049-3p, asa-miR5049b-3p and asa-miR1130-5p with Minimal Free Energy Index (MFEI) of -1.29 kcal/mol belonging to five conserved families were identified. Identified miRNAs down-regulated under the drought stress compared to control and salt stress conditions. Although the response to different types of abiotic stresses in plants is very similar, however, the expression of identified miRNAs was different between drought and salinity stresses. This is probably related to differences in the type of tissue, the sensing mechanism, and the initial response of plants to various stresses. In general, considering the regulatory role of conserved miRNAs in the control of the gene regulatory network, the identified miRNAs in this study, especially asa-miR1130-5p, can be used to regulate the expression of stress-responsive genes, including members of MYB, bHLH, and ERF transcription factors gene families in oat.
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