Profiling the Abiotic Stress Responsive microRNA Landscape of Arabidopsis thaliana
It is well established among interdisciplinary researchers that there is an urgent need to address the negative impacts that accompany climate change. One such negative impact is the increased prevalence of unfavorable environmental conditions that significantly contribute to reduced agricultural yi...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2019-03-01
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| Series: | Plants |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/8/3/58 |
| _version_ | 1818941480171995136 |
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| author | Joseph L. Pegler Jackson M. J. Oultram Christopher P. L. Grof Andrew L. Eamens |
| author_facet | Joseph L. Pegler Jackson M. J. Oultram Christopher P. L. Grof Andrew L. Eamens |
| author_sort | Joseph L. Pegler |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | It is well established among interdisciplinary researchers that there is an urgent need to address the negative impacts that accompany climate change. One such negative impact is the increased prevalence of unfavorable environmental conditions that significantly contribute to reduced agricultural yield. Plant microRNAs (miRNAs) are key gene expression regulators that control development, defense against invading pathogens and adaptation to abiotic stress. Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) can be readily molecularly manipulated, therefore offering an excellent experimental system to alter the profile of abiotic stress responsive miRNA/target gene expression modules to determine whether such modification enables Arabidopsis to express an altered abiotic stress response phenotype. Towards this goal, high throughput sequencing was used to profile the miRNA landscape of Arabidopsis whole seedlings exposed to heat, drought and salt stress, and identified 121, 123 and 118 miRNAs with a greater than 2-fold altered abundance, respectively. Quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was next employed to experimentally validate miRNA abundance fold changes, and to document reciprocal expression trends for the target genes of miRNAs determined abiotic stress responsive. RT-qPCR also demonstrated that each miRNA/target gene expression module determined to be abiotic stress responsive in Arabidopsis whole seedlings was reflective of altered miRNA/target gene abundance in Arabidopsis root and shoot tissues post salt stress exposure. Taken together, the data presented here offers an excellent starting platform to identify the miRNA/target gene expression modules for future molecular manipulation to generate plant lines that display an altered response phenotype to abiotic stress. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T06:56:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d0ca370f537942f08748c554d756fdf0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2223-7747 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T06:56:12Z |
| publishDate | 2019-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Plants |
| spelling | doaj.art-d0ca370f537942f08748c554d756fdf02022-12-21T19:49:22ZengMDPI AGPlants2223-77472019-03-01835810.3390/plants8030058plants8030058Profiling the Abiotic Stress Responsive microRNA Landscape of Arabidopsis thalianaJoseph L. Pegler0Jackson M. J. Oultram1Christopher P. L. Grof2Andrew L. Eamens3Centre for Plant Science, School of Environmental and Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Newcastle, Callaghan 2308, AustraliaCentre for Plant Science, School of Environmental and Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Newcastle, Callaghan 2308, AustraliaCentre for Plant Science, School of Environmental and Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Newcastle, Callaghan 2308, AustraliaCentre for Plant Science, School of Environmental and Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Newcastle, Callaghan 2308, AustraliaIt is well established among interdisciplinary researchers that there is an urgent need to address the negative impacts that accompany climate change. One such negative impact is the increased prevalence of unfavorable environmental conditions that significantly contribute to reduced agricultural yield. Plant microRNAs (miRNAs) are key gene expression regulators that control development, defense against invading pathogens and adaptation to abiotic stress. Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) can be readily molecularly manipulated, therefore offering an excellent experimental system to alter the profile of abiotic stress responsive miRNA/target gene expression modules to determine whether such modification enables Arabidopsis to express an altered abiotic stress response phenotype. Towards this goal, high throughput sequencing was used to profile the miRNA landscape of Arabidopsis whole seedlings exposed to heat, drought and salt stress, and identified 121, 123 and 118 miRNAs with a greater than 2-fold altered abundance, respectively. Quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was next employed to experimentally validate miRNA abundance fold changes, and to document reciprocal expression trends for the target genes of miRNAs determined abiotic stress responsive. RT-qPCR also demonstrated that each miRNA/target gene expression module determined to be abiotic stress responsive in Arabidopsis whole seedlings was reflective of altered miRNA/target gene abundance in Arabidopsis root and shoot tissues post salt stress exposure. Taken together, the data presented here offers an excellent starting platform to identify the miRNA/target gene expression modules for future molecular manipulation to generate plant lines that display an altered response phenotype to abiotic stress.http://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/8/3/58Arabidopsis thalianaabiotic stressheat stressdrought stresssalt stressmicroRNAs (miRNAs)miRNA target gene expressionRT-qPCR |
| spellingShingle | Joseph L. Pegler Jackson M. J. Oultram Christopher P. L. Grof Andrew L. Eamens Profiling the Abiotic Stress Responsive microRNA Landscape of Arabidopsis thaliana Plants Arabidopsis thaliana abiotic stress heat stress drought stress salt stress microRNAs (miRNAs) miRNA target gene expression RT-qPCR |
| title | Profiling the Abiotic Stress Responsive microRNA Landscape of Arabidopsis thaliana |
| title_full | Profiling the Abiotic Stress Responsive microRNA Landscape of Arabidopsis thaliana |
| title_fullStr | Profiling the Abiotic Stress Responsive microRNA Landscape of Arabidopsis thaliana |
| title_full_unstemmed | Profiling the Abiotic Stress Responsive microRNA Landscape of Arabidopsis thaliana |
| title_short | Profiling the Abiotic Stress Responsive microRNA Landscape of Arabidopsis thaliana |
| title_sort | profiling the abiotic stress responsive microrna landscape of arabidopsis thaliana |
| topic | Arabidopsis thaliana abiotic stress heat stress drought stress salt stress microRNAs (miRNAs) miRNA target gene expression RT-qPCR |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/8/3/58 |
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