Identifying small RNAs and Analyzing Their Association with Gene Expression Using Isolated Arabidopsis Male Meiocytes

Abstract

Meiosis is a specialized cell division that generates gametes and is essential for sexual reproduction. Studying meiosis in plants, like the model flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana, contributes to our understanding of the fundamental biology of reproductive biology and has practical implications for improving economically important crop species. In this chapter, we provide a detailed protocol for capillary collection of Arabidopsis male meiocytes followed by total RNA extraction, RNA-Seq, and bioinformatics analysis of small-RNAs (sRNAs) including analysis of sRNA cluster that correlate with genomic features.

Keywords: Arabidopsis; Bioinformatics; Capillary collection method; Meiocyte; RNA extraction; RNA-Seq; Small-RNA Seq.