The interaction between miR160 and miR165/166 in the control of leaf development and drought tolerance in Arabidopsis

Authors

Tianxiao Yang, Michigan Technological UniversityFollow
Yongyan Wan, Michigan Technological UniversityFollow
Sachin Teotia, Michigan Technological UniversityFollow
Zhaohui Wang, Henan Agricultural University,
Chaonan Shi, Henan Agricultural University,
Huwei Sun, Henan Agricultural University,
Yiyou Gu, Michigan Technological UniversityFollow
Zhanhui Zhang, Henan Agricultural University,
Guiliang Tang, Michigan Technological UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-26-2019

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs that play important roles in plant development and abiotic stresses. To date, studies have mainly focused on the roles of individual miRNAs, however, a few have addressed the interactions among multiple miRNAs. In this study, we investigated the interplay and regulatory circuit between miR160 and miR165/166 and its effect on leaf development and drought tolerance in Arabidopsis using Short Tandem Target Mimic (STTM). By crossing STTM160 Arabidopsis with STTM165/166, we successfully generated a double mutant of miR160 and miR165/166. The double mutant plants exhibited a series of compromised phenotypes in leaf development and drought tolerance in comparison to phenotypic alterations in the single STTM lines. RNA-seq and qRT-PCR analyses suggested that the expression levels of auxin and ABA signaling genes in the STTM-directed double mutant were compromised compared to the two single mutants. Our results also suggested that miR160-directed regulation of auxin response factors (ARFs) contribute to leaf development via auxin signaling genes, whereas miR165/166- mediated HD-ZIP IIIs regulation confers drought tolerance through ABA signaling. Our studies further indicated that ARFs and HD-ZIP IIIs may play opposite roles in the regulation of leaf development and drought tolerance that can be further applied to other crops for agronomic traits improvement.

Publisher's Statement

© The Author(s) 2019. Article deposited here in compliance with publisher policy. Publisher's version of record: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-39397-7

Publication Title

Scientific Reports

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Yang, T., Wan, Y., Teotia, S., Wang, Z., Shi, C., Sun, H., Gu, Y., Zhang, Z., & Tang, G. (2019). The interaction between miR160 and miR165/166 in the control of leaf development and drought tolerance in Arabidopsis. Scientific Reports, 9. http://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-39397-7
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/biological-fp/117

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