Analysis of the miRNA expression profile involved in the tomato spotted wilt orthotospovirus-pepper interaction.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of about 22 nucleotide endogenous non-coding small RNAs that play important roles in plant development and defense responses to biotic and abiotic stress. Tomato spotted wilt orthotospovirus (TSWV) is among the most devastating plant viruses worldwide, causing leaf spotting and wilting symptoms in many plants. In this study, high-throughput sequencing technology was used to identify miRNAs in peppers that were regulated by TSWV infection, and bioinformatics techniques were used to analyze the function of these miRNAs and their target genes. The sequencing results showed that, in the pepper plants infected by TSWV, a total of 101 miRNAs were differentially expressed, and several differentially expressed miRNAs were verified by the qRT-PCR method. Based on the GO function and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis, the functions of these miRNAs and their target genes were predicted. These target genes play a regulatory role in pathways such as plant-pathogen interactions and plant hormone signal transduction. Our results provide information about pepper miRNAs and will help to further understand the mechanism of TSWV-host interactions.