High-throughput sequencing of Arabidopsis microRNAs: evidence for frequent birth and death of MIRNA genes.

ABSTRACT: In plants, microRNAs (miRNAs) comprise one of two classes of small RNAs that function primarily as negative regulators at the posttranscriptional level. Several MIRNA genes in the plant kingdom are ancient, with conservation extending between angiosperms and the mosses, whereas many others are more recently evolved. Here, we use deep sequencing and computational methods to identify, profile and analyze non-conserved MIRNA genes in Arabidopsis thaliana. 48 non-conserved MIRNA families, nearly all of which were represented by single genes, were identified. Sequence similarity analyses of miRNA precursor foldback arms revealed evidence for recent evolutionary origin of 16 MIRNA loci through inverted duplication events from protein-coding gene sequences. Interestingly, these recently evolved M

SUBMITTER: Fahlgren N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1790633 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature