Han Wen-Hao, Wang Jun-Xia, Zhang Feng-Bin, Liu Yu-Xiao, Wu He, Wang Xiao-Wei
State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology, Ministry of Agriculture Key Lab of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects, Key Laboratory of Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects of Zhejiang Province, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
Genes (Basel). 2022 Feb 17;13(2):361. doi: 10.3390/genes13020361.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of small non-coding regulatory RNAs, are key molecules in many biological and metabolic processes of plant growth, development and stress response via targeting mRNAs. The phloem-feeding insect whitefly (Hemiptera, Aleyrodidae) is a serious pest that causes devastating harm to agricultural production worldwide. However, the function of host miRNAs in the response to whitefly infestation remains unclear. Here, we sequenced the small RNA and degradome of tobacco ( L.), after and before infestation by . We identified 1291 miRNAs belonging to 138 miRNA families including 706 known miRNAs and 585 novel miRNAs. A total of 47 miRNAs were differentially expressed, of which 30 were upregulated and 17 were downregulated by whitefly exposure. Then, computational analysis showed that the target genes of differential miRNAs were involved in gene regulation, plant innate immunity, plant pathogen defense, the plant hormone signal pathway and abiotic stress tolerance. Furthermore, degradome analysis demonstrated that 253 mRNAs were cleaved by 66 miRNAs. Among them, the targets cleaved by upregulated miR6025, miR160, miR171, miR166 and miR168 are consistent with our prediction, suggesting that pathogen-related miRNAs may function in plant defense against whitefly. Moreover, our results show that plant miRNA response and miRNA-mediated post-transcriptional regulation for phloem-feeding insect infestation are similar to pathogen invasion. Our study provides additional data to further elucidate how host plants respond and defend the phloem-feeding insects.
微小RNA（miRNA）是一类小型非编码调节RNA，通过靶向mRNA在植物生长、发育和应激反应的许多生物和代谢过程中发挥关键作用。以韧皮部为食的粉虱（半翅目，粉虱科）是一种严重害虫，对全球农业生产造成毁灭性危害。然而，宿主miRNA在应对粉虱侵害时的功能仍不清楚。在此，我们对烟草（Nicotiana tabacum L.）在被烟粉虱（Bemisia tabaci）侵染前后的小RNA和降解组进行了测序。我们鉴定出1291个属于138个miRNA家族的miRNA，其中包括706个已知miRNA和585个新miRNA。共有47个miRNA差异表达，其中30个上调，17个因粉虱侵害而下调。然后，计算分析表明差异miRNA的靶基因参与基因调控、植物先天免疫、植物病原体防御、植物激素信号通路和非生物胁迫耐受性。此外，降解组分析表明253个mRNA被66个miRNA切割。其中，上调的miR6025、miR160、miR171、miR166和miR168切割的靶标与我们的预测一致，表明病原体相关的miRNA可能在植物抵御粉虱中发挥作用。此外，我们的结果表明，植物对以韧皮部为食的昆虫侵害的miRNA反应和miRNA介导的转录后调控与病原体入侵相似。我们的研究提供了更多数据，以进一步阐明宿主植物如何应对和抵御以韧皮部为食的昆虫。
