title: Small RNA profiles in soybean primary root tips under water deficit.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Soybean (Glycine max) production is significantly hampered by frequent droughts in many regions of the world including the United States. Identifying microRNA (miRNA)-controlled posttranscriptional gene regulation under drought will enhance our understanding of molecular basis of drought tolerance in this important cash crop. Indeed, miRNA profiles in soybean exposed to drought were studied but not from the primary root tips, which is not only a main zone of water uptake but also critical for water stress sensing and signaling.
  
  
  METHODS
  Here we report miRNA profiles specifically from well-watered and water-stressed primary root tips (0 to 8 mm from the root apex) of soybean. Small RNA sequencing confirmed the expression of vastly diverse miRNA (303 individual miRNAs) population, and, importantly several conserved miRNAs were abundantly expressed in primary root tips.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Notably, 12 highly conserved miRNA families were differentially regulated in response to water-deficit; six were upregulated while six others were downregulated at least by one fold (log2) change. Differentially regulated soybean miRNAs are targeting genes include auxin response factors, Cu/Zn Superoxide dismutases, laccases and plantacyanin and several others.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results highlighted the importance of miRNAs in primary root tips both under control and water-deficit conditions; under control conditions, miRNAs could be important for cell division, cell elongation and maintenance of the root apical meristem activity including quiescent centre whereas under water stress differentially regulated miRNAs could decrease auxin signaling and oxidative stress as well as other metabolic processes that save energy and water.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Information Engineering and Automation, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan, 650500, China.
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, 74078, USA.
authors.forename: Vandana
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hivrale
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Information Engineering and Automation, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan, 650500, China.
authors.forename: Xiaotuo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: National Center for Soybean Biotechnology and Division of Plant Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA.
authors.forename: Babu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Valliyodan
authors.affiliation: Institut of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay (IPS2), CNRS, INRA, University of "Paris-Sud", Batiment 630, 91405, Orsay, France.|Institut of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay (IPS2), CNRS, INRA, University of "Paris-Diderot", Sorbonne Paris-Cité, 91405 Orsay,, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lelandais-Brière
authors.affiliation: National Center for Genome Resources, Santa Fe, New Mexico, NM, 87505, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Farmer
authors.affiliation: National Center for Genome Resources, Santa Fe, New Mexico, NM, 87505, USA.|Present address: Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc, Johnston, IA, 50131, USA.
authors.forename: Gregory D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: May
authors.affiliation: Institut of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay (IPS2), CNRS, INRA, University of "Paris-Sud", Batiment 630, 91405, Orsay, France.|Institut of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay (IPS2), CNRS, INRA, University of "Paris-Diderot", Sorbonne Paris-Cité, 91405 Orsay,, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Crespi
authors.affiliation: National Center for Soybean Biotechnology and Division of Plant Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA. NguyenHenry@missouri.edu.
authors.forename: Henry T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, 74078, USA. ramanjulu.sunkar@okstate.edu.
authors.forename: Ramanjulu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sunkar
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D055864:Droughts; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000187:drug effects; D005838:Genotype; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D018519:Meristem / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics*; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D013025:Glycine max / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D014867:Water / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; D014867:Water
keywords: Drought; Post-transcriptional gene regulation; Primary root tips; Soybean; miRNAs