Bioinformatic identification and expression analysis of banana microRNAs and their targets

PLoS One. 2015 Apr 9;10(4):e0123083. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0123083. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) represent a class of endogenous non-coding small RNAs that play important roles in multiple biological processes by degrading targeted mRNAs or repressing mRNA translation. Thousands of miRNAs have been identified in many plant species, whereas only a limited number of miRNAs have been predicted in M. acuminata (A genome) and M. balbisiana (B genome). Here, previously known plant miRNAs were BLASTed against the Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) and Genomic Survey Sequence (GSS), a database of banana genes. A total of 32 potential miRNAs belonging to 13 miRNAs families were detected using a range of filtering criteria. 244 miRNA:target pairs were subsequently predicted, most of which encode transcription factors or enzymes that participate in the regulation of development, growth, metabolism, and other physiological processes. In order to validate the predicted miRNAs and the mutual relationship between miRNAs and their target genes, qRT-PCR was applied to detect the tissue-specific expression levels of 12 putative miRNAs and 6 target genes in roots, leaves, flowers, and fruits. This study provides some important information about banana pre-miRNAs, mature miRNAs, and miRNA target genes and these findings can be applied to future research of miRNA functions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Computational Biology
  • DNA Primers / genetics
  • Databases, Genetic
  • Expressed Sequence Tags / metabolism
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / genetics*
  • Genes, Plant / genetics*
  • MicroRNAs / genetics*
  • Musa / genetics*
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

Substances

  • DNA Primers
  • MicroRNAs

Grants and funding

JYW and RJF received the grants from the Natural Science Foundation of Hainan Province (No.312050, 312051), JYW received the grants from the National Nonprofit Institute Research Grant of CATAS-ITBB (No. ITBB130201), and RJF received the grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31201603) and the Major Technology Project of Hainan Province (No. ZDZX2013023-1). The grants from No.312050 and ITBB130201 had role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.