MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs about 20-24 nucleotides long, playing regulatory role. The conserved nature among the various organisms makes them a good source of new miRNAs discovery by comparative genomics approach using bioinformatic tools. A systematic search approach was used for inter-species homologs of miRNA precursors (pre-miRNAs), from known Helianthus expressed sequence tags (ESTs). The study resulted in 61 novel miRNAs belonging to 34 families from Helianthus ESTs. The 28 miRNA families; mir 159,160, 164, 170, 390, 393, 413, 415, 419, 426, 446, 530, 822, 842, 846, 1310, 1888, 2086, 2657, 2667, 2678, 2659, 2911, 2938, 3440, 3521, 3623, and 3630 are reporting for the first time in Helianthus. In the 61 new miRNAs, 20 are from H. tuberosus, 17 miRNAs belong to H. annus, 8 are from H. ciliaris, 5 to H. exilis, 4 is from H. argophyllous, H. petiolaris each and 3 are from H. paradoxus. All the pre-miRNAs form stable minimum free energy (mfe) stem-loop structure as their orthologues form and the mature miRNAs reside in the stem portion of the stem-loop structures. Their targets consist of growth and development related, transcription factors, signalling pathway kinases, stress resistant proteins and transport related proteins.

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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, 18-26 nucleotides long, non-coding RNAs that play role in post-transcriptional gene regulation. Many of these are evolutionarily conserved. This suggests a powerful approach to predict new miRNAs in other species. In this research, structural and functional approaches were combined to make computational prediction of potential miRNAs and their targets in Bean (Phaseolus). Total 55 novel miRNAs were detected from 38 miRNAs families in Bean (Phaseolus). These families are; miR156, 160, 164, 168, 170, 171, 172, 319, 393, 396, 397, 398, 408, 414, 438, 444, 535, 1310, 1424, 1426, 1848, 1860, 1863, 2055, 2091, 2093, 2094, 2102, 2103, 2105, 2864, 2866, 2925, 2926, 4221, 4245, 4246 and 4250. In the 55 putative miRNAs; 28 miRNAs belong to Phaseolus acutifolius, 23 to Phaseolus vulgaris, 4 to Phaseolus coccineus. All the mature miRNAs reside in the stem portion of the hairpin structures. Total 146 potential protein targets were predicted for these miRNAs.

Introduction Potato (Solanum tuberosum) belongs to the family Solanaceae and is an important agricultural crop. It is the world's fourth largest food crop, following rice, wheat, and maize. Distributed worldwide with about 5000 varieties, the potato has its center of origin in the high Andes of South America. It is best known for its carbohydrate content in the form of starch, though it also contains important vitamins and minerals (Abbas et al., 2012). It plays a viable role in the worldwide sustainable food system, producing more food energy on less land with low cost of cultivation. It is the most important tuber crop in terms of production, accounting for about 45% of total world tuber crop production (Shewry, 2003) and parental marker studies in anther-derived progeny (Aziz, 2014a, 2014b). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are single-stranded RNAs that are noncoding, endogenous, and 18 to 26 nt in length (Bartel, 2004). The intergenic genes of miRNAs are generated from endogenous stem-loop primary transcripts known as precursor miRNAs (pre-miRNAs) through actions of Dicer-like 1 (DCL1), an RNAse III enzyme. DCL1, along with other proteins, generates a mature miRNA from the cleavage of stem-looped pre-miRNA (Ambros, 2003). Mature miRNA further associates with argonaute proteins to develop an RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). The RISC then functions as a guide molecule in the negative posttranscriptional gene, silencing through 2-way base pairing with target mRNAs. The base pairings are perfect or near perfect and lead to mRNA cleavage or translational repression, respectively. miRNAs are one of the largest gene families, accounting for approximately 1% of the genome (Bartel, 2004). Many recent studies have shown that miRNAs have vital roles in diverse regulatory pathways in plants and animals (Baloch and Din, 2014; Din and Barozai, 2014a). In plants, miRNAs regulate tissue differentiation and development, including leaf, root, stem, and flower tissues. They also regulate developmental timing from the vegetative to reproductive stages, as well as signal transduction and response to biotic and abiotic stresses, such as salinity, drought, cold, heat, and pathogens (Zhang et al., 2006; Baloch et al., 2013; Song et al., 2013). The miRNAs and their targets interact through complex regulatory networks. A single miRNA can bind to regulate several distinct mRNA targets and, conversely, Abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are tiny, endogenous, nonprotein-coding, and functionally negative regulators of posttranscriptional gene regulation. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a starchy and tuberous crop that is also important for its potassium and vitamin contents. Though potato is the world's fourth largest food crop, its miRNAs and their targets have not been well studied. Here we report a comparative genomics approach that was applied to explore miRNAs and their targeted proteins in potato. A total of 120 new miRNAs from 110 families were identified and characterized from the expressed sequence tags. All 120 miRNAs were observed, along wit...

Water is essential component of life. Pure drinking water is a necessity for humans. Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan. In Balochistan river and well water is mainly used for drinking and agriculture purposes. Current study was carried out to determine the concentration of trace and heavy metals in river (surface) and well water of Jhal Magsi district of Balochistan. Ten (10) samples were collected from each, river (surface) and well water. Physicochemical parameters (PH, Electrical conductivity, Total dissolved solids, Dissolved Oxygen, Turbidity and Color) were determined. Determination of trace and heavy metals i.e. Zinc (Zn), Iron (Fe), Manganese (Mn), Copper (Cu), Cadmium (Cd), Lead (Pb), Chromium (Cr) and Nickel (Ni) were carried out using Atomic absorption Spectrophotometer. Except 3 samples (RW3, RW5 and WW6), the physicochemical parameters were within the world health organization (WHO) and environmental protection agency Pakistan (EPA) limits. Concentration of Zn, Fe, Mn and Cu were below the WHO and EPA limits. Concentration of Pb and Cd were higher than the standards set by WHO and EPA. Cr and Ni were not detected in any samples. Current study is the first study carried out to determine the concentration of trace and heavy metals in drinking water of Jhal Magsi district of Balochistan.