Evolution of microRNA genes in Oryza sativa and Arabidopsis thaliana: an update of the inverted duplication model.

ABSTRACT: The origin and evolution of microRNA (miRNA) genes, which are of significance in tuning and buffering gene expressions in a number of critical cellular processes, have long attracted evolutionary biologists. However, genome-wide perspectives on their origins, potential mechanisms of their de novo generation and subsequent evolution remain largely unsolved in flowering plants. Here, genome-wide analyses of Oryza sativa and Arabidopsis thaliana revealed apparently divergent patterns of miRNA gene origins. A large proportion of miRNA genes in O. sativa were TE-related and MITE-related miRNAs in particular, whereas the fraction of these miRNA genes much decreased in A. thaliana. Our results show that the majority of TE-related and pseudogene-related miRNA genes have originated through inverted

SUBMITTER: Zhang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3237417 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature