Computational Identification of Conserved microRNAs and Their Targets in Tea (Camellia sinensis)

Akan Das, Tapan Kumar Mondal

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DOI: 10.4236/ajps.2010.12010                

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of ~22 nucleotides long non coding RNA molecules which play an important role in gene regulation at the post transcriptional level. The conserved nature of miRNAs provides the basis of new miRNA identification through homology search. In an attempt to identify new conserved miRNAs in tea, previously known plant miRNAs were used for searching their homolog in a tea Expressed Sequence Tags and full length nucleotide sequence database. The sequences showing homolog no more than four mismatches were predicted for their fold back structures and passed through a series of filtration criteria, finally led us to identify 13 conserved miRNAs in tea belonging to 9 miRNA families. A total of 37 potential target genes in Arabidopsis were identified subsequently for 7 miRNA families based on their sequence complementarity which encode transcription factors (8%), enzymes (30%) and transporters (14%) as well as other proteins involved in physiological and metabolic processes (48%). Overall, our findings will accelerate the way for further researches of miRNAs and their functions in tea.

Keywords

Camellia sinensis, Computational Identification, Expressed Sequence Tags, microRNA, Targets

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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