Non-coding RNAs in the plant response to abiotic stress

Abstract

As sessile organisms, plants have to cope with the ever-changing environment as well as with numerous forms of stress. To react to these external cues, plants have evolved a suite of response mechanisms operating at many different levels, ranging from physiological to molecular processes that provide the organism with a wide phenotypic plasticity, allowing for fine tuning of the reactions to these adverse circumstances. During the past decade, non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) have emerged as key regulatory molecules, which contribute to a significant portion of the transcriptome in eukaryotes and are involved in the control of transcriptional and post-transcriptional gene regulatory pathways. Although accumulated evidence supports an important role for ncRNAs in plant response and adaptation to abiotic stress, their mechanism(s) of action still remains obscure and a functional characterization of the ncRNA repertoire in plants is still needed. Moreover, common features in the biogenesis of different small ncRNAs, and in some cases, cross talk between different gene regulatory pathways may add to the complexity of these pathways and could play important roles in modulating stress responses. Here we review the various ncRNAs that have been reported to participate in the response to abiotic stress in plants, focusing on their importance in plant adaptation and evolution. Understanding how ncRNAs work may reveal novel mechanisms involved in the plant responses to the environment.

MicroRNA and Transcription Factor: Key Players in Plant Regulatory Network

“…However, during salinity stress, miR169 was significantly induced which halted the expression of nfya5 in Arabidopsis (Kong et al, 2014). In addition, ABA treatment to the Arabidopsis had significantly induced NFYA5 TF and caused the downregulated of miR169 level (Contreras-Cubas et al, 2012; Cheng et al, 2016). …”

Construction of regulatory networks mediated by small RNAs responsive to abiotic stresses in rice (Oryza sativa)

“…For cetain miRNA families, it has not been reported that these miRNAs were responsive to abiotic stresses in rice, but they were validated to be stress-responsive in other plant species according to previous studies. For instances, miR171 of Arabidopsis is induced by drought stress (Contreras-Cubas et al, ;Liu et al, 2008). In our study, we found that many miR171 family members (osa-miR171b, osa-miR171c-3p, osa-miR171d-3p, osa-miR171e-5p, osa-miR171e-3p, osa-miR171f-5p and osa-miR171f-3p) were also drought-responsive in rice, but they were repressed by water deficit.…”

“…In our study, we found that many miR171 family members (osa-miR171b, osa-miR171c-3p, osa-miR171d-3p, osa-miR171e-5p, osa-miR171e-3p, osa-miR171f-5p and osa-miR171f-3p) were also drought-responsive in rice, but they were repressed by water deficit. In common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), miR2118 is up-regulated under water deficit (Contreras-Cubas et al, ;Arenas-Huertero et al, 2009). Notably, we discovered that osa-miR2118f, osa-miR2118h, osa-miR2118j, osa-miR2118k and osa-miR2118m were also inducible by drought stress in rice panicles.…”

“…To gain better understanding of the common biological roles of plant sRNAs in stress signaling, a comprehensive comparison was performed between the rice stress-responsive sRNAs discovered in this study and the previously identified stress-responsive plant sRNAs. In rice, it has been reported that miR166 and miR396 were down-regulated under drought stress (Ding et al, ; Zhou et al), while miR169 and miR393 were up-regulated under water deficit (Contreras-Cubas et al, ;Ding et al, ;Zhao et al, 2007). Consistently, in our study, we discovered that most of the miR166 family members (including osa-miR166a-5p, osa-miR166b-5p, osa-miR166d-5p, osa-miR166e-5p, osa-miR166g-5p and osa-miR166n-5p) and osa-miR396c-3p were greatly repressed by drought treatment in either seedlings or panicles.…”

The Role of Long Non-coding RNAs in Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Plants

“…In contrast to small ncRNAs, only a few lncRNAs have been identifi ed and functionally characterized further to implicate their involvement in abiotic stress response in plants (Ben Amor et al 2009 ;Contreras-Cubas et al 2012 ).…”