Discovery Of Drought-Responsive Transposable Element-Related Peach miRNAs

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNA) are small non-coding regulatory RNAs that suppress their specific target transcripts either by cleavage or inhibition of translation. Transposable element related miRNAs (TE-miRNA) have been subjected to various studies so far, and some of them were found to be involved in stress response in plants. Here, small RNA (sRNA) sequencing libraries generated from drought stress treated peach tissues were utilized to identify TE-miRNAs. Our computational analysis led to the identification of 63 TE-miRNAs, which were either locating nearby of any TE (TE-related), or overlapping with a TE (TE-derived). Furthermore, 13 out of 63 TE-miRNAs were designated as drought-responsive. Expression pattern of the identified drought-responsive TE-miRNAs are observed as tissue-specific manner, and their specific target transcripts are mostly related to transcription factors and growth-associated genes. Our findings suggest that miRNAs in relation with transposable elements might be key molecular players in the regulation of drought response.