Over-expression of osa-MIR396c decreases salt and alkali stress tolerance.
Salt and alkali stress are two of the main environmental factors limiting rice production. Thus, understanding the mechanisms of salinity and alkali stress tolerance is necessary to modify rice to increase its resistance to salinity and alkaline stress. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are approximately 21-nucleotide RNAs that are ubiquitous regulators of gene expression in eukaryotic organisms. In plants, miRNAs constitute one of five classes of small RNAs that function primarily as negative regulators for gene expression at the posttranscriptional level. Several plant miRNAs, such as miR396, play vital roles in plant growth, development and resistance to stresses. In this study, we identified osa-MIR396c, which shows dramatic transcript change under salt and alkali stress conditions in Oryza sativa. We designed an experiment to detect miRNA-target interaction and demonstrated that several transcription factors related to growth, development, and stress tolerance are targeted by osa-MIR396c. Transgenic rice and Arabidopsis thaliana plants constitutively over-expressing osa-MIR396c showed reduced salt and alkali stress tolerance compared to that of wild-type plants. Overall, this study further established a link between salt and alkali stress and osa-MIR396c in rice.
Plant Bioengineering Laboratory, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, China. gaopeng.neau@gmail.com
Peng
P
Gao
Xi
X
Bai
Liang
L
Yang
Dekang
D
Lv
Yong
Y
Li
Hua
H
Cai
Wei
W
Ji
Dianjing
D
Guo
Yanming
Y
Zhu
D000468:Alkalies / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000187:drug effects; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012275:Oryza / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010641:Phenotype; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D055049:Salt Tolerance / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics
D000468:Alkalies; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D035683:MicroRNAs; C036483:T-DNA