Herbal
masoumeh jannesar; Seyed Mahdi Seyedi
Abstract
Background: Salinity stress, as one of the important abiotic stresses, harms the yield per unit area of many pistachio orchards in Iran. Plants use various mechanisms to adapt to environmental stress conditions, including post-transcriptional gene expression regulation through miRNAs.Methods: Target ...
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Background: Salinity stress, as one of the important abiotic stresses, harms the yield per unit area of many pistachio orchards in Iran. Plants use various mechanisms to adapt to environmental stress conditions, including post-transcriptional gene expression regulation through miRNAs.Methods: Target genes of selected miRNAs were identified against the genes of salt-tolerant (Ghazvini) and sensitive (Sarakhs) pistachio genotypes. The GO enrichment analysis of target genes of selected miRNAs and the expression pattern of selected miRNAs under NaCl, SA, and combined treatment of NaCl+SA were measured.Findings: Salt-responsive target gene prediction of miR172 led to the finding of 113 & 123 target genes for the Ghazvini & Sarakhs genotypes, respectively. Moreover, 93 & 77 target genes were identified for miR399 in the Ghazvini & Sarakhs genotypes. The GO enrichment analysis of the miRNA target genes shows their role in response to chemical stimuli, metabolic processes related to macromolecules, binding to nucleotides & ATP, primary metabolic processes, regulating the catalytic activity of hydrolase, transferase, & oxidoreductase enzymes. Conclusion: The difference in the expression pattern of miR172 and miR399 in response to salt stress between the tolerant and sensitive genotypes indicates the decisive role of these miRNAs in regulating salt stress tolerance mechanisms in pistachio plants. In addition, the findings of this research improve the upstream role of the salicylic acid hormone signaling pathway in the regulation of miRNA expression.
