miRNAs: Major modulators for crop growth and development under abiotic stresses

Abstract

Cumulatively, biotic and abiotic stresses of various magnitudes can decrease the production of crops by 70%. miRNAs have emerged as a genetic tool with enormous potential that can be exploited to understand stress tolerance at the molecular level and eventually regulate stress in crops. Plant miRNA targets frequently fit into diverse families of TFs that control the expression of genes related to a certain trait. As key machinery in gene regulatory networks, it is agreed that a broad understanding of miRNAs will greatly increase our understanding of plant responses to environmental stresses. miRNA-led stress regulatory networks are being considered as novel tools for the development of abiotic stress tolerance in crops. At this time, we need to expand our knowledge about the modulatory role of miRNAs during environmental fluctuations. It has become exceedingly clear that with increased understanding of the role of miRNAs during stress, the techniques for using miRNA-mediated gene regulation to enhance plant stress tolerance will become more effective and reliable. In this review we present: (1) miRNAs as a potential avenue for the modulation of abiotic stresses, and (2) summarize the research progress regarding plant responses to stress. Current progress is explained through discussion of the identification and validation of several miRNAs that enhance crop tolerance of salinity, drought, etc., while missing links on different aspects of miRNAs related to abiotic stress tolerance are noted.

Genome-Wide Identification and Characterization of Salinity Stress-Responsive miRNAs in Wild Emmer Wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. dicoccoides)

“…However, miRN38 and miRN92 showed some differences, which may due to the PCR analysis using a leaf while the sequencing sample was from the whole plant. Besides, the physiological differences among samples or the high fluctuation in the expression of some miRNAs in plants in response to stress may also cause the different results between qRT-PCR and the sequencing [38,39]. The dynamic changes in the expression profiles of the miRNA response to salt stress were observed (Figure 3 and Figure 4).…”

“…miRNAs have emerged as a potential genetic tool for understanding stress tolerance at the molecular level and eventually regulating stress response in crops [38]. The identification of salinity stress-responsive miRNAs and the functional analysis that followed assist in explaining the stress-responsive mechanism in plants.…”

Nitrogen fertility and abiotic stresses management in cotton crop: a review

“…Generally, cotton grows in warmer regions of China, India, the USA, and Pakistan, the leading countries in cotton production (Riaz et al 2013;STATISTA). On the other hand, insufficient rainfall and less water availability during crop growing season are responsible for its low production (Alghabari et al 2016;Khawar et al 2016;Noman et al 2017;Saud et al 2013Saud et al , 2014Saud et al , 2016Vadez et al 2012). Drought causes a reduction in photosynthetic and respiratory activities of crops (Wahid 2007).…”

Molecular response of canola to salt stress: insights on tolerance mechanisms

“…More than 2000 AS events have been reported for salinity-treated plants (Ding et al 2014;Laloum et al 2017). Other regulatory levels reported under salinity include epigenetic modifications (Chinnusamy & Zhu 2009;Dhar et al 2014;Guangyuan et al 2007;Labra et al 2004) and miRNAs (Jian et al 2016;Noman et al 2017;Stief et al 2014;Zhang 2015). The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) are transcripted and translated to proteins and, at this level, undergo other regulational, post-translational modifications (PTMs).…”