植物microRNA对重金属胁迫响应的调控

Regulation of Heavy Metal Stress Response by Plant microRNAs

镉是重要的重金属污染物,它严重影响植物生长,并危害人体健康.植物的重金属耐受机理很复杂,需从多个角度阐述.但参与重金属应答的调节性基因研究较少,重金属响应调控网络并不清楚.

This paper focuses on the role of microRNAs（miRNAs） in response to cadmium（Cd） stress in rice.A number of Cd-responsive miRNAs in rice were identified by using microarray assay and quantitative Real-time PCR.The downstream targets were mainly regulatory genes which encoded transcription factors and protein kinases.These target genes were reported to be associated with metabolic processes and signal pathways.Promoter analysis showed that metal stress-responsive cis-elements tended to occur more frequently in the promoter regions of Cd-responsive miRNAs.These findings suggested that miRNAs played an important role in Cd tolerance in rice,and highlighted a heavy metal tolerance network involving miRNAs in plants.