title: Identification of miRNA from Bouteloua gracilis, a drought tolerant grass, by deep sequencing and their in silico analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules that regulate signal transduction, development, metabolism, and stress responses in plants through post-transcriptional degradation and/or translational repression of target mRNAs. Several studies have addressed the role of miRNAs in model plant species, but miRNA expression and function in economically important forage crops, such as Bouteloua gracilis (Poaceae), a high-quality and drought-resistant grass distributed in semiarid regions of the United States and northern Mexico remain unknown.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We applied high-throughput sequencing technology and bioinformatics analysis and identified 31 conserved miRNA families and 53 novel putative miRNAs with different abundance of reads in chlorophyllic cell cultures derived from B. gracilis. Some conserved miRNA families were highly abundant and possessed predicted targets involved in metabolism, plant growth and development, and stress responses. We also predicted additional identified novel miRNAs with specific targets, including B. gracilis ESTs, which were detected under drought stress conditions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Here we report 31 conserved miRNA families and 53 putative novel miRNAs in B. gracilis. Our results suggested the presence of regulatory miRNAs involved in modulating physiological and stress responses in this grass species.
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Zootecnia y Ecología, Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua, Periférico R. Almada Km. 1C.P. 31453, Chihuahua, México. Electronic address: plordonez@uach.mx.
authors.forename: Perla Lucía
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Ordóñez-Baquera
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Zootecnia y Ecología, Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua, Periférico R. Almada Km. 1C.P. 31453, Chihuahua, México. Electronic address: evegonzal@uach.mx.
authors.forename: Everardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: González-Rodríguez
authors.affiliation: Programa de Posgrado, Instituto Tecnológico de Roque, Km. 8 Carretera Celaya-Juventino Rosas C.P. 38110, Celaya, Guanajuato, México; BIOqualitum S.A. de C.V., Oriente 7 # 158, Ciudad Industrial Sur, Celaya, Gto. CP 38010, México. Electronic address: gaguado@prodigy.net.mx.
authors.forename: Gerardo Armando
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Aguado-Santacruz
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua, Campus Universitario No. 2 Circuito Universitario, C.P. 31125, Chihuahua, México. Electronic address: qrascon@uach.mx.
authors.forename: Quintín
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Rascón-Cruz
authors.affiliation: Genomics of Gene Expression Laboratory, Prince Felipe Research Center, Av. Eduardo Primo Yúfera 3, 46012 Valencia, Spain; Microbiology and Cell Science Department, Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States. Electronic address: aconesa@cipf.es.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Conesa
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Medicina y Ciencias Biomédicas, Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua, Campus Universitario No. 2 Circuito Universitario, C.P. 31125 Chihuahua, México. Electronic address: vmoreno@uach.mx.
authors.forename: Verónica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Moreno-Brito
authors.affiliation: Conacyt-Centro de Investigaciones Biomédicas de Occidente, Guadalajara, México. Electronic address: rechavarria.z@conacyt.mx.
authors.forename: Raquel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Echavarria
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Zootecnia y Ecología, Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua, Periférico R. Almada Km. 1C.P. 31453, Chihuahua, México. Electronic address: joeldominguez@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dominguez-Viveros
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D001483:Base Sequence; D003198:Computer Simulation; D055864:Droughts; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006109:Poaceae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Blue grama; Drought stress; In silico analysis; miRNA