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Identification and characterisation of maize micro RNA s involved in developing ears
Author(s) -
Ding D.,
Li W.,
Han M.,
Wang Y.,
Fu Z.,
Wang B.,
Tang J.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
plant biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.871
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1438-8677
pISSN - 1435-8603
DOI - 10.1111/plb.12013
Subject(s) - biology , microrna , meristem , gene , small rna , genetics , deep sequencing , gene expression , rna , dna sequencing , computational biology , genome
In maize, kernel row number trait is determined during the period when spikelet pair meristems ( SPM s) give rise to spikelet meristems ( SM s). Expression levels of many genes change during this period due to regulation at transcriptional and post‐transcriptional levels. Micro RNA s (mi RNA s) act as key regulating factors of post‐transcriptional gene expression. To discover mi RNA s involved in maize ear development, S olexa deep sequencing was performed on a maize inbred line, Z ong3. Ears at the stage when SPM s produce SM s were harvested to extract RNA . Deep sequencing revealed 85 conserved mi RNA s belonging to 17 mi RNA families. mi RNA families differed greatly in their abundance, from over 160,000 to only five reads. In addition, 31 novel maize mi RNA s were identified using stringent criteria. The results show that mi RNA ‐mediated regulation of gene expression is present in developing maize ears at the stage when SPM s produce SM s; both conserved and novel mi RNA s are involved.