Abstract
Plants being sessile organisms are exposed to innumerable abiotic and biotic stresses on a daily basis. Heavy metal toxicity in plants results in hampered root growth and defect in root structure, oxidative stress as well as overall loss of yield. Heavy metals generally fall in two groups; essential heavy metals (Cu, Fe, Zn, and Mn) playing a vital role in the entire life of plants and non-essential heavy metals (Cd, Hg, As, Cr, Al). Plants are copped with a variety of arsenals to combat against HM stress such as antioxidants systems, chelation of HMs, their sequestration into the vacuole and many more. Micro RNAs (miRNAs) are 20–24 nucleotides non-coding small RNAs that participate in the regulation of gene expression at post transcriptional level mostly by translational inhibition or by target cleavage. In the present scenario use of advanced techniques such as next-generation sequencing (NGS), whole genome sequencing boosted our knowledge about the population and role of miRNAs in plants during various HM stress. miRNAs targets genes belonging to numerous functions including transcription factors, genes responsible for uptake and transport of HMs, detoxification, hormone signalling and so on. In this review, we recapitulate the topical molecular studies identifying HM responsive miRNAs as well as their participation in the regulation of expression of target genes as a result of miRNA mediated regulatory network of HM response in plants.
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Abbreviations
- Al:
-
Aluminium
- As:
-
Arsenic
- AsV:
-
Arsenate
- AsIII:
-
Arsenite
- Cd:
-
Cadmium
- Co:
-
Cobalt
- Cu:
-
Copper
- Cr:
-
Chromium
- GSH:
-
Glutathione
- Hg:
-
Mercury
- HM:
-
Heavy metal
- miRNA:
-
Micro-RNA
- MT:
-
Metallothionein
- NGS:
-
Next-generation sequencing
- Ni:
-
Nickel
- Pb:
-
Lead
- PCs:
-
Phytochelatins
- Zn:
-
Zinc
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Dubey, S., Shri, M. & Chakrabarty, D. MicroRNA mediated regulation of gene expression in response to heavy metals in plants. J. Plant Biochem. Biotechnol. 30, 744–755 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13562-021-00718-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13562-021-00718-5