Identification of Species-Specific MicroRNAs Provides Insights into Dynamic Evolution of MicroRNAs in Plants

ABSTRACT: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are an important class of regulatory small RNAs that program gene expression, mainly at the post-transcriptional level. Although sporadic examples of species-specific miRNAs (termed SS-miRNAs) have been reported, a genome-scale study across a variety of distant species has not been assessed. Here, by comprehensively analyzing miRNAs in 81 plant species phylogenetically ranging from chlorophytes to angiosperms, we identified 8048 species-specific miRNAs from 5499 families, representing over 61.2% of the miRNA families in the examined species. An analysis of the conservation from different taxonomic levels supported the high turnover rate of SS-miRNAs, even over short evolutionary distances. A comparison of the intrinsic features between SS-miRNAs and NSS-miRNAs (non-speci

SUBMITTER: Guo Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9698635 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature