biostudies-literatureUnknown8Li HPollen development is an important and complex biological process in the sexual reproduction of flowering plants. Although the cytological characteristics of pollen development are well defined, the regulation of its early stages remains largely unknown. In the present study, miRNAs were explored in the early development of broccoli (<i>Brassica oleracea</i> var. <i>italica</i>) pollen. A total of 333 known miRNAs that originated from 235 miRNA families were detected. Fifty-five novel miRNA candidates were identified. Sixty of the 333 known miRNAs and 49 of the 55 predicted novel miRNAs exhibited significantly differential expression profiling in the three distinct developmental stages of broccoli pollen. Among these differentially expressed miRNAs, miRNAs that would be involved in the devFrontiers in plant science404https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC5364186biostudies-literatureSmall RNA Sequencing Reveals Differential miRNA Expression in the Early Development of Broccoli (<i>Brassica oleracea</i> var. <i>italica</i>) Pollen.PMC5364186Li HWu MJin CWang CWang YChen CLi LSong WZhang QfalseSmall RNA Sequencing Reveals Differential miRNA Expression in the Early Development of Broccoli (<i>Brassica oleracea</i> var. <i>italica</i>) Pollen.Pollen development is an important and complex biological process in the sexual reproduction of flowering plants. Although the cytological characteristics of pollen development are well defined, the regulation of its early stages remains largely unknown. In the present study, miRNAs were explored in the early development of broccoli (<i>Brassica oleracea</i> var. <i>italica</i>) pollen. A total of 333 known miRNAs that originated from 235 miRNA families were detected. Fifty-five novel miRNA candidates were identified. Sixty of the 333 known miRNAs and 49 of the 55 predicted novel miRNAs exhibited significantly differential expression profiling in the three distinct developmental stages of broccoli pollen. Among these differentially expressed miRNAs, miRNAs that would be involved in the dev2017-01-01T00:00:00Z20172026-05-05T19:32:25.002Z2019-03-27T02:39:26ZS-EPMC53641862839279710.3389/fpls.2017.00404