An Insight into microRNA156 Role in Salinity Stress Responses of Alfalfa.

ABSTRACT: Salinity is one of the major abiotic stresses affecting alfalfa productivity. Developing salinity tolerant alfalfa genotypes could contribute to sustainable crop production. The functions of microRNA156 (miR156) have been investigated in several plant species, but so far, no studies have been published that explore the role of miR156 in alfalfa response to salinity stress. In this work, we studied the role of miR156 in modulating commercially important traits of alfalfa under salinity stress. Our results revealed that overexpression of miR156 increased biomass, number of branches and time to complete growth stages, while it reduced plant height under control and salinity stress conditions. We observed a miR156-related reduction in neutral detergent fiber under non-stress, and acid detergen

SUBMITTER: Arshad M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5348497 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature