植物miRNA的研究方法概述

Overview of Research Methods for Plant miRNAs

microRNA(miRNA)是动植物中广泛存在的内源性非编码小RNA分子,通过与靶基因mRNA的特定位点结合,在转录后水平负调控靶标基因的表达。植物miRNA几乎调控所有的生物学和代谢过程,包括生长发育、细胞维持和分化、信号转导以及对逆境胁迫的响应。随着第二代深度测序技术和生物信息学的快速发展,miRNA的相关研究已从模式植物扩展到非模式植物,发现了大量新的miRNA,并确定了小部分miRNA的生物学功能。由于miRNA序列短小,与靶标基因作用的不确定以及调控网络的复杂性,研究难度较大。本文从研究方法的角度对miRNA的鉴定、靶基因的验证和miRNA功能研究等方面所涉及的方法进行总结,试图为植物miRNA的研究提供一些思路和启发。

MicroRNAs （miRNAs） are an extensive class of small non-protein-coding endogenous RNA in ani-mals and plants, which negatively regulate gene expression at the post-transcription levels by degrading mRNA or repressing mRNA translation, depending on the complementarities between a miRNA and its targeted mR-NAs. Plant miRNAs play an important role in almost all biological and metabolic processes, including growth and development, cell maintenance and differentiation, signal transduction and response to environmental stresses. With the rapid development of next generation deep sequencing and advanced bioinformatics, the miRNA-related study has been expanded to non-model plant species. A number of miRNAs have been identi-ifed and the biological functions of a part miRNAs have also been conifrmed in the past years. Nevertheless, we know it is dififcult to study on miRNAs because of their short sequences, the uncertain interaction with target genes and the complex of the regulatory network. This paper reviews the research methods for plant miRNAs including miRNA identiifcation, target validation and functional study as well. It is very signiifcant to provide some ideas and inspiration for scientiifc researchers engaging in plant small RNAs.