title: Unraveling the microRNA of Caragana korshinskii along a precipitation gradient on the Loess Plateau, China, using high-throughput sequencing.
abstract: Drought remains one of the main factors that negatively affect plant growth and development. Caragana korshinskii is widely distributed on the Loess Plateau, China, where it mediates soil and water loss and helps prevent desertification. However, little is known about the stress response mechanisms of C. korshinskii in water-starved environments. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been implicated in the regulation of plant responses to several types of biotic and abiotic stress. Here, we describe the miRNAs of wild C. korshinskii from Huangling, Yulin, and Dalad Banner, which occur along a precipitation gradient. Using next-generation sequencing technology, we obtained a total of 13 710 681, 15 048 945, and 15 198 442 reads for each location, respectively; after filtering and BLAST analysis, 490 conserved miRNAs and 96 novel miRNAs were characterized from the sRNAome data, with key functions determined using Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analyses. We also designed stem-loop qRT-PCR to validate the expression patterns of 5 conserved miRNAs (miR390, miR398, miR530, miR2119, and miR5559) that obviously responded to water stress in plants grown both under natural and experimental water stress conditions and found that the expression levels of miR2119 and miR5559 were negatively correlated with their predicted target genes. This study is the first to identify miRNAs from wild C. korshinskii and provides a basis for future studies of miRNA-mediated gene regulation of stress responses in C. korshinskii.
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.|School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Pengbo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ning
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Yulu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Lifang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Yingying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Wenfei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Furong
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Zhenye
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Lifang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Junhui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Chunmei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gong
mesh_terms: D032602:Caragana / Q000235:genetics*; D055864:Droughts; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing / Q000379:methods*; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D018749:RNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D011891:Rain; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA / Q000379:methods; D013312:Stress, Physiological
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; D018749:RNA, Plant