title: Overexpression of gma-MIR394a confers tolerance to drought in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana.
abstract: MicroRNAs, key posttranscriptional regulators of eukaryotic gene expression, play important roles in plant development and response to stress. In this study, a soybean gma-MIR394a gene was functionally characterized, especially with regard to its role in drought stress resistance. Expression analysis revealed that gma-MIR394a was expressed differentially in various soybean tissues and was induced by drought, high salinity, low temperature stress, and abscisic acid treatment in leaves. One target gene of gma-miR394a, Glyma08g11030, was predicted and verified using a modified 5' RLM-RACE (RNA ligase-mediated rapid amplification of 5' cDNA ends) assay. Overexpression of gma-MIR394a resulted in plants with lowered leaf water loss and enhanced drought tolerance. Furthermore, overexpression of gma-MIR394a in Arabidopsis reduced the transcript of an F-box gene (At1g27340) containing a miR394 complementary target site. These results suggest that the gma-MIR394a gene functions in positive modulation of drought stress tolerance and has potential applications in molecular breeding to enhance drought tolerance in crops.
authors.affiliation: The National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, PR China. nizhiyong@126.com
authors.forename: Zhiyong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ni
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Qiyan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D055864:Droughts; D044783:F-Box Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D018749:RNA, Plant / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D013025:Glycine max / Q000235:genetics*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D059467:Transcriptome; D014867:Water / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D044783:F-Box Proteins; D035683:MicroRNAs; D018749:RNA, Plant; D014867:Water