title: Deep sequencing identifies tissue-specific microRNAs and their target genes involving in the biosynthesis of tanshinones in Salvia miltiorrhiza.
abstract: Salvia miltiorrhiza is one of the most popular traditional medicinal herbs in Asian nations. Its dried root contains a number of tanshinones, protocatechuic aldehyde, salvianolic acid B and rosmarinic, and is used for the treatment of various diseases. The finding of microRNAs (miRNAs) and their target genes will help understand their biological role on the biosynthesis of tanshinones in S. miltiorrhiza. In the present study, a total of 452 known miRNAs corresponding to 589 precursor miRNAs (pre-miRNAs), and 40 novel miRNAs corresponding to 24 pre-miRNAs were identified in different tissues of S. miltiorrhiza by high-throughput sequencing, respectively. Among them, 62 miRNAs express only in root, 95 miRNAs express only in stem, 19 miRNAs express only in leaf, and 71 miRNAs express only in flower, respectively. By the degradome analysis, 69 targets potentially cleaved by 25 miRNAs were identified. Among them, acetyl-CoA C-acetyltransferase was cleaved by miR5072, and involved in the biosynthesis of tanshinones. This study provided valuable information for understanding the tissue-specific expression patterns of miRNAs in S. miltiorrhiza, and offered a foundation for future studies of the miRNA-mediated biosynthesis of tanshinones.
authors.affiliation: College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xiangbin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Qinghua
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xiuyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Qicai
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ying
authors.affiliation: College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yongsheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Hongmiao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Huizhong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D045784:Abietanes / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D019295:Computational Biology; D066264:Datasets as Topic; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D015723:Gene Library; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D009928:Organ Specificity; D034622:RNA Interference; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics*; D027561:Salvia miltiorrhiza / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D045784:Abietanes; D035683:MicroRNAs; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C021751:tanshinone