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Salt and Drought Stresses Induce the Aberrant Expression of microRNA Genes in Tobacco

Molecular Biotechnology volume 49, pages 159–165 (2011)Cite this article

Abstract

Drought and salinity stresses significantly altered microRNA (miRNA) expression in a dose-dependent manner in tobacco. Salinity stress changed the miRNA expression levels from a 6.86-fold down-regulation to a 616.57-fold up-regulation. Alternatively, miRNAs were down-regulated by 2.68-fold and up-regulated 2810-fold under drought conditions. miR395 was most sensitive to both stresses and was up-regulated by 616 and 2810-folds by 1.00% PEG and 0.171 M NaCl, respectively. Salinity and drought stresses also changed the expression of protein-coding genes [alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and alcohol peroxidase (APX)]. The results suggest that miRNAs may play an important role in plant response to environmental abiotic stresses. Further investigation of miRNA-mediated gene regulation may elucidate the molecular mechanism of plant tolerance to abiotic stresses and has the potential to create a miRNA-based biotechnology for improving plant tolerance to drought and salinity stresses.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, 27858, USA

    Taylor P. Frazier, Guiling Sun, Caitlin E. Burklew & Baohong Zhang

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  1. Taylor P. Frazier
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  2. Guiling Sun
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  3. Caitlin E. Burklew
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  4. Baohong Zhang
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Correspondence to Baohong Zhang.

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Frazier, T.P., Sun, G., Burklew, C.E. et al. Salt and Drought Stresses Induce the Aberrant Expression of microRNA Genes in Tobacco. Mol Biotechnol 49, 159–165 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12033-011-9387-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12033-011-9387-5

Keywords

  • Abiotic stress
  • Drought
  • Salinity
  • microRNA
  • Gene regulation
  • Tobacco