Transcriptome-wide miRNA identification of Bacopa monnieri: a cross-kingdom approach

Harshida Gadhavi; Maulikkumar Patel; Naman Mangukia; Kanisha Shah; Kinjal Bhadresha; Saumya K Patel; Rakesh M Rawal; Himanshu A Pandya

doi:10.1080/15592324.2019.1699265

Transcriptome-wide miRNA identification of Bacopa monnieri: a cross-kingdom approach

Plant Signal Behav. 2020;15(1):1699265. doi: 10.1080/15592324.2019.1699265. Epub 2019 Dec 4.

Authors

Harshida Gadhavi¹, Maulikkumar Patel¹, Naman Mangukia¹, Kanisha Shah², Kinjal Bhadresha², Saumya K Patel¹, Rakesh M Rawal², Himanshu A Pandya¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Botany, Bioinformatics and Climate Change Impacts Management, School of Sciences, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, India.
² Department of Life Sciences, Food Science and Nutrition, School of Sciences, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, India.

Abstract

Bacopa monnieri known as 'Brahmi' is a well-known medicinal plant belonging to Scrophulariaceae family for its nootropic properties. To the best of our knowledge, no characterization data is available on the potential role of micro RNAs (miRNAs) from this plant till date. We present here the first report of computational characterizations of miRNAs from B. monnieri. Owing to the high conservation of miRNAs in nature, new and potential miRNAs can be identified in plants using in silico techniques. Using the plant miRNA sequences present in the miRBase repository, a total of 12 miRNAs were identified from B. monnieri which pertained to 11 miRNA families from the shoot and root transcriptome data. Furthermore, gene ontology analysis of the identiﬁed 68 human target genes exhibited significance in various biological processes. These human target genes were associated with signaling pathways like NF-kB and MAPK with TRAF2, CBX1, IL1B, ITGA4 and ITGB1BP1 as the top five hub nodes. This cross-kingdom study provides initial insights about the potential of miRNA-mediated cross-kingdom regulation and unravels the essential target genes of human with implications in numerous human diseases including cancer.

Keywords: Bacopa monnieri; Cross-kingdom; Medicinal Plant; Transcriptome; miRNA.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Bacopa / genetics*
Bacopa / metabolism*
Chromobox Protein Homolog 5
Gene Ontology
Humans
MicroRNAs / genetics
MicroRNAs / metabolism*
Transcriptome / genetics*

Substances

CBX1 protein, human
MicroRNAs
Chromobox Protein Homolog 5

Grants and funding

This work was financially supported by the Financial Assistance Programme – Gujarat State Biotechnology Mission, Gujarat, India [grant number GSBTM/FAP/1443] and Department of Science and Technology [grant number GSBTM/MD/JDR/1409/2017-18].