Genome-wide fungal stress responsive miRNA expression in wheat

• Published in: Planta 2014-12, Vol.240 (6), p.1287-1298
• Main Authors: Inal, Behçet, Türktaş, Mine, Eren, Hakan, Ilhan, Emre, Okay, Sezer, Atak, Mehmet, Erayman, Mustafa, Unver, Turgay
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: abiotic stress; Agriculture; Ascomycota - physiology; bioinformatics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Bipolaris sorokiniana; cultivars; Ecology; Forestry; fungi; Fusarium; Fusarium - physiology; Fusarium culmorum; Gene expression regulation; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Gene Ontology; Genes; Genes, Plant; Genome, Plant; Infections; Inoculation; Life Sciences; MicroRNA; MicroRNAs - genetics; MicroRNAs - metabolism; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; Original Article; Pathogens; peroxidase; Plant Sciences; Plants; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; Reproducibility of Results; RNA; RNA, Messenger - genetics; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; stress response; Stress, Physiological - genetics; Triticum - genetics; Triticum - microbiology; Triticum aestivum; Wheat
• ISSN: 0032-0935; 1432-2048
• DOI: 10.1007/s00425-014-2153-8

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding class of RNAs. They were identified in many plants with their diverse regulatory roles in several cellular and metabolic processes. A number of miRNAs were involved in biotic and abiotic stress responses. Here, fungal stress responsive wheat miRNAs were analyzed by using miRNA-microarray strategy. Two different fungi (Fusarium culmorum and Bipolaris sorokiniana) were inoculated on resistant and sensitive wheat cultivars. A total of 87 differentially regulated miRNAs were detected in the 8 × 15 K array including all of the available plant miRNAs. Using bioinformatics tools, the target transcripts of responsive miRNAs were predicted, and related biological processes and mechanisms were assessed. A number of the miRNAs such as miR2592s, miR869.1, miR169b were highly differentially regulated showing more than 200-fold change upon fungal-inoculation. Some of the miRNAs were identified as fungal-inoculation responsive for the first time. The analyses showed that some of the differentially regulated miRNAs targeted resistance-related genes such as LRR, glucuronosyl transferase, peroxidase and Pto kinase. The comparison of the two miRNA-microarray analyses indicated that fungal-responsive wheat miRNAs were differentially regulated in pathogen- and cultivar-specific manners.