title: Identification of MicroRNAs and their targets in Helianthus.
abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs about 20-24 nucleotides long, playing regulatory role. The conserved nature among the various organisms makes them a good source of new miRNAs discovery by comparative genomics approach using bioinformatic tools. A systematic search approach was used for inter-species homologs of miRNA precursors (pre-miRNAs), from known Helianthus expressed sequence tags (ESTs). The study resulted in 61 novel miRNAs belonging to 34 families from Helianthus ESTs. The 28 miRNA families; mir 159,160, 164, 170, 390, 393, 413, 415, 419, 426, 446, 530, 822, 842, 846, 1310, 1888, 2086, 2657, 2667, 2678, 2659, 2911, 2938, 3440, 3521, 3623, and 3630 are reporting for the first time in Helianthus. In the 61 new miRNAs, 20 are from H.                         tuberosus, 17 miRNAs belong to H.                         annus, 8 are from H.                         ciliaris, 5 to H.                         exilis, 4 is from H.                         argophyllous, H.                         petiolaris each and 3 are from H.                         paradoxus. All the pre-miRNAs form stable minimum free energy (mfe) stem-loop structure as their orthologues form and the mature miRNAs reside in the stem portion of the stem-loop structures. Their targets consist of growth and development related, transcription factors, signalling pathway kinases, stress resistant proteins and transport related proteins.
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, University of Baluchistan, Sariab Road, Quetta, Pakistan. barozaikhan@gmail.com
authors.forename: Muhammad Younas Khan
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Barozai
authors.forename: Iftikhar Ahmed
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Baloch
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Din
mesh_terms: D001482:Base Composition; D001483:Base Sequence; D019295:Computational Biology; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D006368:Helianthus / Q000235:genetics*; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics; D013045:Species Specificity; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; D014157:Transcription Factors