Abstract

French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a legume grown worldwide and is the most important pulse crop of the Indian subcontinent. The yield is adversely affected by a large number of biotic and abiotic stresses. Micro RNAs (miRNAs) have been implicated in the regulation of plant responses to several biotic and abiotic stresses. Boron toxicity is a significant limitation to cereal crop production. In this study, RT-qPCR confirmed seven miRNAs responsive to high concentrations of boron, exhibited differential expression trends compared to the control. Target prediction and their functional analysis revealed that most of the targets represent transcription factors regulating expression of stress related genes. GO results supported our hypothesis that miRNAs were found to be involved in diverse cellular processes, including plant circadian cycle, vegetative development, transcription, and cross adaptation. Our research characterized a subset of miRNAs that would provide new insights towards complex regulatory mechanism of small non-coding regulatory RNAs involved in stress adaptation.

Key words: Expression assay; Metal toxicity; MRE; Transcription factors