title: Identification and validation of sugarcane streak mosaic virus-encoded microRNAs and their targets in sugarcane.
abstract: Plants have developed several defense mechanisms to cope with various pathogens (bacteria, fungi, virus, and phytoplasma). Among these, RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated defense against viral infection was found to be a major innate immune response. As a counter attack strategy against the host defense, viruses produce suppressors of host RNAi pathway. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are an abundant class of short (~18-22 nucleotide) non-coding single-stranded RNAs involved in RNAi pathway leading to post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Sugarcane streak mosaic virus (SCSMV) is a distinct strain of Potyviridae family which has a single-stranded positive-sense RNA genome causing mosaic disease in sugarcane. In this study, we computationally predicted and experimentally validated the miRNA encoded by the SCSMV genome with detection efficiency of 99.9 % in stem-loop RT-qPCR and predicted their potential gene targets in sugarcane. These sugarcane target genes considerably broaden future investigation of the SCSMV-encoded miRNA function during viral pathogenesis and might be applied as a new strategy for controlling mosaic disease in sugarcane.
authors.affiliation: Plant Functional Genomics Unit, Department of Biotechnology, Karpagam University, Eachanari Post, 641021, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Chandran
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Viswanathan
authors.forename: Jeyaraj
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Anburaj
authors.forename: Gajjeraman
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Prabu
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D002338:Carotenoids / Q000378:metabolism; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000378:metabolism; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D063990:Gene Ontology; D016679:Genome, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D010802:Phylogeny; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D019176:Potyviridae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D031786:Saccharum / Q000821:virology*; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; D012367:RNA, Viral; D002734:Chlorophyll; D002338:Carotenoids