Biomaterial Database

MicroRNAs in crop improvement: fine-tuners for complex traits. 2017

Jiuyou Tang, and Chengcai Chu

State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics and National Centre for Plant Gene Research (Beijing), Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.

One of the most common challenges for both conventional and modern crop improvement is that the appearance of one desirable trait in a new crop variety is always balanced by the impairment of one or more other beneficial characteristics. The best way to overcome this problem is the flexible utilization of regulatory genes, especially genes that provide more efficient and precise regulation in a targeted manner. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a type of short non-coding RNA, are promising candidates in this area due to their role as master modulators of gene expression at the post-transcriptional level, targeting messenger RNAs for cleavage or directing translational inhibition in eukaryotes. We herein highlight the current understanding of the biological role of miRNAs in orchestrating distinct agriculturally important traits by summarizing recent functional analyses of 65 miRNAs in 9 major crops worldwide. The integration of current miRNA knowledge with conventional and modern crop improvement strategies is also discussed.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D000069599	Crop Production	The science and practice of cultivating PLANTS that have economic value to man. It includes plant breeding, seed production, weeding, use of fertilizers, harvesting, storage, transportation, and marketing.	Production, Crop
D018556	Crops, Agricultural	Cultivated plants or agricultural produce such as grain, vegetables, or fruit. (From American Heritage Dictionary, 1982)	Agricultural Crops,Agricultural Crop
D018749	RNA, Plant	Ribonucleic acid in plants having regulatory and catalytic roles as well as involvement in protein synthesis.	Plant RNA
D024861	Genetic Enhancement	The use of genetic methodologies to improve functional capacities of an organism rather than to treat disease.	Enhancement, Genetic,Enhancements, Genetic,Genetic Enhancements
D035683	MicroRNAs	Small double-stranded, non-protein coding RNAs, 21-25 nucleotides in length generated from single-stranded microRNA gene transcripts by the same RIBONUCLEASE III, Dicer, that produces small interfering RNAs (RNA, SMALL INTERFERING). They become part of the RNA-INDUCED SILENCING COMPLEX and repress the translation (TRANSLATION, GENETIC) of target RNA by binding to homologous 3'UTR region as an imperfect match. The small temporal RNAs (stRNAs), let-7 and lin-4, from C. elegans, are the first 2 miRNAs discovered, and are from a class of miRNAs involved in developmental timing.	RNA, Small Temporal,Small Temporal RNA,miRNA,stRNA,Micro RNA,MicroRNA,Primary MicroRNA,Primary miRNA,miRNAs,pre-miRNA,pri-miRNA,MicroRNA, Primary,RNA, Micro,Temporal RNA, Small,miRNA, Primary,pre miRNA,pri miRNA