title: High-throughput sequencing of Medicago truncatula short RNAs identifies eight new miRNA families.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  High-throughput sequencing technology is capable to identify novel short RNAs in plant species. We used Solexa sequencing to find new microRNAs in one of the model legume species, barrel medic (Medicago truncatula).
  
  
  RESULTS
  3,948,871 reads were obtained from two separate short RNA libraries generated from total RNA extracted from M. truncatula leaves, representing 1,563,959 distinct sequences. 2,168,937 reads were mapped to the available M. truncatula genome corresponding to 619,175 distinct sequences. 174,504 reads representing 25 conserved miRNA families showed perfect matches to known miRNAs. We also identified 26 novel miRNA candidates that were potentially generated from 32 loci. Nine of these loci produced eight distinct sequences, for which the miRNA* sequences were also sequenced. These sequences were not described in other plant species and accumulation of these eight novel miRNAs was confirmed by Northern blot analysis. Potential target genes were predicted for most conserved and novel miRNAs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Deep sequencing of short RNAs from M. truncatula leaves identified eight new miRNAs indicating that specific miRNAs exist in legume species.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. g.szittya@uea.ac.uk
authors.forename: Gyorgy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Szittya
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moxon
authors.forename: Dulce M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: Runchun
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jing
authors.forename: Manuel P S
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Fevereiro
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Moulton
authors.forename: Tamas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dalmay
mesh_terms: D015723:Gene Library; D017343:Genes, Plant; D018745:Genome, Plant; D046913:Medicago truncatula / Q000235:genetics*; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D018749:RNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; D018749:RNA, Plant