Computational Identification of MicroRNA-targeted Nucleotide-binding Site-leucine-rich Repeat Genes in Plants

Abstract

Plant genomes harbor dozens to hundreds of nucleotide-binding site-leucine-rich repeat (NBS-LRR, NBS for short) type disease resistance genes (Shao et al., 2014; Zhang et al., 2015). Proper regulation of these genes is important for normal growth of plants by reducing unnecessary fitness costs in the absence of pathogen infection. Recent studies have revealed that microRNAs are involved in regulation of NBS genes in plants (Zhai et al., 2011; Shivaprasad et al., 2012). This protocol describes computational methods for the genome-wide identification of plant NBS genes potentially regulated by microRNAs.