Submit to Cells Review for Cells Propose a Special Issue

Journal Browser

Non-coding RNAs in the Growth and Development of Plants

Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Cells (ISSN 2073-4409). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant, Algae and Fungi Cell Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2022) | Viewed by 14220

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Marek Figlerowicz

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor

Department of Molecular and Systems Biology, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry Polish Academy of Science, 61-704 Poznań, Poland
Interests: genomics; regeneration; CNV; SNP; circRNAs; A. thaliana; RNA degradome

Dr. Anna Philips

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Laboratory of Bioinformatics, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry Polish Academy of Scienice, 61-704 Poznań, Poland
Interests: circRNAs; A. thaliana; bioinformatics; non-coding RNAs

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) constitute a wide and a significant portion of plant transcriptomes. Diverse ncRNAs include small a RNA class, with miRNAs as top players as well as long ncRNAs (lncRNAs), whose functions remain more elusive. A recently discovered new class of circular RNAs (circRNAs) has emerged as an additional factor in plant biogenesis. A feature common to all classes of ncRNAs is that they play essential regulatory roles in almost all biological processes by modulating gene expression at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. Studying the role of ncRNAs in plant growth and development has a twofold meaning. The first is to understand and explain these extremely complex phenomena. The second is to identify key factors that drive and control these processes to use them to modify and improve plants.

The present Special Issue aims to summarize some of the latest advances on plant small RNAs and lncRNAs, with an emphasis on their functions and modes of action in plant growth and development.

Prof. Dr. Marek Figlerowicz
Dr. Anna Philips
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cells is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

ncRNA
miRNA
circRNA
lncRNA
siRNA
plants
growth
development
stress response

Published Papers (4 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

Jump to: Review

30 pages, 5838 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Identification of miRNA–mRNA Regulatory Modules Involved in Lipid Metabolism and Seed Development in a Woody Oil Tree (Camellia oleifera)

by Bo Wu, Chengjiang Ruan, Asad Hussain Shah, Denghui Li, He Li, Jian Ding, Jingbin Li and Wei Du

Cells 2022, 11(1), 71; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells11010071 - 27 Dec 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3275

Abstract

Tea oil camellia (Camellia oleifera), an important woody oil tree, is a source of seed oil of high nutritional and medicinal value that is widely planted in southern China. However, there is no report on the identification of the miRNAs involved in lipid metabolism and seed development in the high- and low-oil cultivars of tea oil camellia. Thus, we explored the roles of miRNAs in the key periods of oil formation and accumulation in the seeds of tea oil camellia and identified miRNA–mRNA regulatory modules involved in lipid metabolism and seed development. Sixteen small RNA libraries for four development stages of seed oil biosynthesis in high- and low-oil cultivars were constructed. A total of 196 miRNAs, including 156 known miRNAs from 35 families, and 40 novel miRNAs were identified, and 55 significantly differentially expressed miRNAs were found, which included 34 upregulated miRNAs, and 21 downregulated miRNAs. An integrated analysis of the miRNA and mRNA transcriptome sequence data revealed that 10 miRNA–mRNA regulatory modules were related to lipid metabolism; for example, the regulatory modules of ath-miR858b–MYB82/MYB3/MYB44 repressed seed oil biosynthesis, and a regulation module of csi-miR166e-5p–S-ACP-DES6 was involved in the formation and accumulation of oleic acid. A total of 23 miRNA–mRNA regulatory modules were involved in the regulation of the seed size, such as the regulatory module of hpe-miR162a_L-2–ARF19, involved in early seed development. A total of 12 miRNA–mRNA regulatory modules regulating growth and development were identified, such as the regulatory modules of han-miR156a_L+1–SPL4/SBP2, promoting early seed development. The expression changes of six miRNAs and their target genes were validated using quantitative real-time PCR, and the targeting relationship of the cpa-miR393_R-1–AFB2 regulatory module was verified by luciferase assays. These data provide important theoretical values and a scientific basis for the genetic improvement of new cultivars of tea oil camellia in the future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Non-coding RNAs in the Growth and Development of Plants)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 2083 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Transcriptome and Degradome Profiling Reveals a Role of miR530 in the Circadian Regulation of Gene Expression in Kalanchoë marnieriana

by Zhikang Hu, Ziyan Nie, Chao Yan, Hu Huang, Xianjin Ma, Yupeng Wang, Ning Ye, Gerald A. Tuskan, Xiaohan Yang and Hengfu Yin

Cells 2021, 10(6), 1526; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells10061526 - 17 Jun 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2710

Abstract

Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) is an important photosynthetic pathway for plant adaptation to dry environments. CAM plants feature a coordinated interaction between mesophyll and epidermis functions that involves refined regulations of gene expression. Plant microRNAs (miRNAs) are crucial post-transcription regulators of gene expression, however, their roles underlying the CAM pathway remain poorly investigated. Here, we present a study characterizing the expression of miRNAs in an obligate CAM species Kalanchoë marnieriana. Through sequencing of transcriptome and degradome in mesophyll and epidermal tissues under the drought treatments, we identified differentially expressed miRNAs that were potentially involved in the regulation of CAM. In total, we obtained 84 miRNA genes, and eight of them were determined to be Kalanchoë-specific miRNAs. It is widely accepted that CAM pathway is regulated by circadian clock. We showed that miR530 was substantially downregulated in epidermal peels under drought conditions; miR530 targeted two tandem zinc knuckle/PLU3 domain encoding genes (TZPs) that were potentially involved in light signaling and circadian clock pathways. Our work suggests that the miR530-TZPs module might play a role of regulating CAM-related gene expression in Kalanchoë. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Non-coding RNAs in the Growth and Development of Plants)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

23 pages, 2586 KiB

Open AccessReview

Long Non-Coding RNAs of Plants in Response to Abiotic Stresses and Their Regulating Roles in Promoting Environmental Adaption

by Hong Yang, Yuting Cui, Yanrong Feng, Yong Hu, Li Liu and Liu Duan

Cells 2023, 12(5), 729; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12050729 - 24 Feb 2023

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3376

Abstract

Abiotic stresses triggered by climate change and human activity cause substantial agricultural and environmental problems which hamper plant growth. Plants have evolved sophisticated mechanisms in response to abiotic stresses, such as stress perception, epigenetic modification, and regulation of transcription and translation. Over the past decade, a large body of literature has revealed the various regulatory roles of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the plant response to abiotic stresses and their irreplaceable functions in environmental adaptation. LncRNAs are recognized as a class of ncRNAs that are longer than 200 nucleotides, influencing a variety of biological processes. In this review, we mainly focused on the recent progress of plant lncRNAs, outlining their features, evolution, and functions of plant lncRNAs in response to drought, low or high temperature, salt, and heavy metal stress. The approaches to characterize the function of lncRNAs and the mechanisms of how they regulate plant responses to abiotic stresses were further reviewed. Moreover, we discuss the accumulating discoveries regarding the biological functions of lncRNAs on plant stress memory as well. The present review provides updated information and directions for us to characterize the potential functions of lncRNAs in abiotic stresses in the future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Non-coding RNAs in the Growth and Development of Plants)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

31 pages, 1487 KiB

Open AccessReview

Non-Coding RNAs in Legumes: Their Emerging Roles in Regulating Biotic/Abiotic Stress Responses and Plant Growth and Development

by Uday Chand Jha, Harsh Nayyar, Nitin Mantri and Kadambot H. M. Siddique

Cells 2021, 10(7), 1674; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells10071674 - 02 Jul 2021

Cited by 31 | Viewed by 3809

Abstract

Noncoding RNAs, including microRNAs (miRNAs), small interference RNAs (siRNAs), circular RNA (circRNA), and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), control gene expression at the transcription, post-transcription, and translation levels. Apart from protein-coding genes, accumulating evidence supports ncRNAs playing a critical role in shaping plant growth and development and biotic and abiotic stress responses in various species, including legume crops. Noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) interact with DNA, RNA, and proteins, modulating their target genes. However, the regulatory mechanisms controlling these cellular processes are not well understood. Here, we discuss the features of various ncRNAs, including their emerging role in contributing to biotic/abiotic stress response and plant growth and development, in addition to the molecular mechanisms involved, focusing on legume crops. Unravelling the underlying molecular mechanisms and functional implications of ncRNAs will enhance our understanding of the coordinated regulation of plant defences against various biotic and abiotic stresses and for key growth and development processes to better design various legume crops for global food security. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Non-coding RNAs in the Growth and Development of Plants)

► Show Figures