Identification and Functional Prediction of Drought-Responsive Long Non-Coding RNA in Tomato
Seung Hee Eom,
Hee Ju Lee,
Jin Hyoung Lee,
Seung Hwan Wi,
Sung Kyeom Kim,
Tae Kyung Hyun
Affiliations
Seung Hee Eom
Department of Industrial Plant Science and Technology, College of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Korea
Hee Ju Lee
Vegetable Research Division, National Institute of Horticultural & Herbal Science, Wanju 55365, Korea
Jin Hyoung Lee
Vegetable Research Division, National Institute of Horticultural & Herbal Science, Wanju 55365, Korea
Seung Hwan Wi
Vegetable Research Division, National Institute of Horticultural & Herbal Science, Wanju 55365, Korea
Sung Kyeom Kim
Department of Horticultural Science, College of Agriculture & Life Science, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea
Tae Kyung Hyun
Department of Industrial Plant Science and Technology, College of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Korea
In higher plants, several lines of evidence suggest that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) may play important roles in the regulation of various biological processes by regulating gene expression. In this study, we identified a total of 521 lncRNAs, classified as intergenic, intronic, sense, and natural antisense lncRNAs, from RNA-seq data of drought-exposed tomato leaves. A further 244 drought-responsive tomato lncRNAs were predicted to be putative targets of 92 tomato miRNAs. Expression pattern and preliminary functional analysis of potential mRNA targets suggested that drought-responsive tomato lncRNAs play important roles in a variety of biological processes via lncRNA−mRNA co-expression. Taken together, these data present a comprehensive view of drought-responsive tomato lncRNAs that serve as a starting point for understanding the role of long intergenic non-coding RNAs in the regulatory mechanisms underlying drought responses in crops.
