TITLE:
Differential Expression of miRNAs in Sorghum bicolor under Drought and Salt Stress
AUTHORS:
Rania S. El Sanousi, Nada B. Hamza, Awadalla A. Abdelmula, Ismail A. Mohammed, Seif M. Gasim, Neeti Sanan-Mishra
KEYWORDS:
miRNA, Up-Regulation, Down-Regulation, Pre-Flowering, Post-Flowering
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.7 No.6,
April
25,
2016
ABSTRACT: The
regulatory mechanisms of drought and salt-associated miRNAs have not been fully
understood in Sorghum bicolor. In
this study, we investigated the effect of salinity stress (200 and 300 mM NaCl) and drought stress at pre- and
post-flowering stages on the expression pattern of small regulatory RNAs in six
Sorghum genotypes using semi-quantitative
reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-qPCR). The results
indicated that both drought and salt stresses altered the expression pattern of
miRNAs in a dose-dependent manner. However, each miRNA responded to drought and
salt stress in a different pattern among the six sorghum genotypes. miR156,
miR167, miR168 and miR399 give different
expressions levels compared to other studied miRNAs which may attribute to the
adaption of sorghum to drought and salt stress and are good candidates for
improving sorghum by transgenic technology.