Resumo

PEREZ-QUINTERO, ÁLVARO LUIS; ZAPATA, ANDRÉS  e  LOPEZ, CAMILO. Indentification of Conserved miRNAs in Cassava (Manihot esculenta). Acta biol.Colomb. [online]. 2010, vol.15, n.2, pp.149-168. ISSN 0120-548X.

microRNAs (miRNAs) are small RNA molecules used by eukaryotes as a control mechanism for gene expression. In plants, miRNAs play a regulatory role in the expression of various genes involved in growth and development, as well in biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. Many plant miRNAs are conserved in all land plants; however the repertoire of miRNAs is still unknown for many plant species. Likewise, the role for some plant miRNAs in pathogen defense is also unknown. In this work we constructed a library of small RNA from tissues of Manihot esculenta (Cassava) infected with the pathogenic bacteria Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. manihotis (Xam). The small RNAs were sequenced using next-generation sequencing (Solexa/Illumina). We identified 47 conserved miRNAs families in Cassava and quantified their expression, finding similarities with expression profiles from other plants. We found sequences for the precursors of some of these families in sets of ESTs and GSSs. We also predicted targets for these miRNAs in a set of ESTs, finding many miRNAs targeting transcription factors, and regions with unknown function. This work constitutes a first step towards understanding the role of the miRNA pathway in plant-pathogen interaction in the M. esculenta-Xam pathosystem.

Palavras-chave : microRNAs; cassava; M. esculenta; Solexa/Illumina; cassava bacterial blight.

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