Expression Alteration of Candidate Rice MiRNAs in Response to Sheath Blight Disease

Soheila Talesh Sasani; Bahram M Soltani; Rahim Mehrabi; Hossein Samavatian Fereidoun Padasht-Dehkaei

doi:10.30498/IJB.2020.2451

Expression Alteration of Candidate Rice MiRNAs in Response to Sheath Blight Disease

Iran J Biotechnol. 2020 Oct 1;18(4):e2451. doi: 10.30498/IJB.2020.2451. eCollection 2020 Oct.

Authors

Soheila Talesh Sasani^{1

2}, Bahram M Soltani¹, Rahim Mehrabi³, Hossein Samavatian Fereidoun Padasht-Dehkaei⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
² Department of Biology, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.
³ Seed and Plant Improvement Institute, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Karaj, Iran.
⁴ Plant Protection Department, Rice Research Institute of Iran (RRII), Rasht, Iran.

Abstract

Background: MicroRNAs, as small non-coding RNAs, are recently reported to be involved in plant defense system against pathogens including fungi.

Objective: In this research, it was intended to investigate candidate susceptible rice (Oryza Sativa) Osa-miRNA expression alteration following the infection by Rhizoctonia solani.

Materials and methods: To this aim, literature review suggested eight conserved plant miRNAs that are involved in other plant-pathogen interactions. Then, sixty days old rice plants (Hashemi, susceptible cultivar) were inoculated with R. solani and candidate miRNA expression alterations were investigated 2 hpi (hours post inoculation), 2 dpi (days post inoculation) and 6 dpi.

Results: RT-qPCR analysis suggested four subgroups of candidate miRNAs based on the time of their responses to the pathogenesis of R. solani. While Osa-miR-156 was early-responsive, Osa-miR159 was the last-responsive and Osa-miR167, Osa-miR171, Osa-miR408, and Osa-miR444 were late responsive to R. solani infection. Osa-miR166 and Osa-miR393 were non-responsive to this infection, compared to the mock-inoculated control group. Consistently, Os-SPL3 and Os-MADS known target genes were expressed in reverse correlation to Osa-miR156 and Osa-miR444, respectively.

Conclusions: From these data, it is suggested that both early (Osa-miR-156) and late (Osa-miR167, Osa-miR171, Osa- miR408, Osa-miR444) responsive miRNAs might be involved in R. solani infection in rice plants.

Keywords: Rice plant; miRNA; Rhizoctonia solani.