Key Lab of Bio-Resources and Eco-Environment, Ministry of Education, College of Life Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China.
Plant Mol Biol. 2012 Sep;80(1):85-102. doi: 10.1007/s11103-012-9898-x. Epub 2012 Mar 9.
Plant microRNAs (miRNAs) act as negative regulators of gene expression by slicing target transcripts or inhibiting translation. A number of miRNAs play important roles in development. In order to investigate the potential function of miRNAs during male gametogenesis in rice, we obtained both gene and small RNA expression profiles by combining microarray and high-throughput sequencing technologies. From the microarray datasets, 2,925 male gametophyte-specific genes were identified, including 107 transcription factors and three significant Argonaute genes (AGO12, AGO13, and AGO17). From the sRNA-Seq datasets, 104 unique miRNAs (miRus) were identified, including 47 known miRus and 57 novel miRus; interestingly, most of the new miRus are pollen-specific and not conserved among species. Furthermore, an interactive network of miRNA-target was constructed based on the two datasets. By employing enrichment analysis, the miRNA-regulated targets were found to be involved in both the up and down pathways, but predominantly in the down pathways, including 37 GO biological processes and 32 KEGG pathways. These findings indicate that miRNAs play a broad regulatory role during male gametophyte development in rice.
植物 microRNAs (miRNAs) 通过切割靶标转录本或抑制翻译来作为基因表达的负调控因子。许多 miRNAs 在发育过程中发挥重要作用。为了研究 miRNA 在水稻雄性配子体发生过程中的潜在功能，我们结合微阵列和高通量测序技术获得了基因和小 RNA 表达谱。从微阵列数据集，鉴定出 2925 个雄性配子体特异性基因，包括 107 个转录因子和三个重要的 Argonaute 基因（AGO12、AGO13 和 AGO17）。从 sRNA-Seq 数据集，鉴定出 104 个独特的 miRNAs（miRus），包括 47 个已知的 miRus 和 57 个新的 miRus；有趣的是，大多数新的 miRus 是花粉特异性的，在物种间没有保守性。此外，基于这两个数据集构建了 miRNA-靶标相互作用网络。通过富集分析，发现 miRNA 调控的靶标参与了上调和下调途径，但主要是下调途径，包括 37 个 GO 生物过程和 32 个 KEGG 途径。这些发现表明，miRNAs 在水稻雄性配子体发育过程中发挥广泛的调控作用。
