miR482 and Its Isoforms in Plants

Abstract

In plants, miR482 family members are generally 22-nucleotide long, distinguishing from other microRNA (miRNA) families by their extraordinary and diverse sequence structures. Studies showed that miRNA482 is related to NBLRR (Nucleotide binding-site leucine-rich repeat) genes conferring resistance to disease in plants. There are different coded NB-LRR genes which are considered as the part immune response assisting the recognition of pathogens in plant genomes. NB-LRR proteins are mostly related to effector – triggering immune system against pathogens. The main immune receptors in plants are PRR (Pattern recoginition receptor) and R (Resistance) proteins. R proteins code for immune system proteins by NB-LRR activity. miR482, miR1448, slmiR2118 and ath-miR472 are disease resistance related miRNAs. In several studies, miR482 was found to be a homolog of miR1448 and phylogenetic analyses showed that miR1448 is formed by tandem duplication of miR482. While suppression of miR482 results in plant susceptibility to pathogens, miR482 was considered to play role in nodulation and mycorrhizal processes of soya roots. Increasing evidences exhibit that miR482 is critical in disease resistance against pathogen attacks.

Keywords

• miR482 family
• NB-LRR
• R gene
• nodulation