Dataset Papers in Science Volume 2017 (2017), Article ID 9507485, 4 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/9507485
Dataset Paper
Discovery of MicroRNAs in Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton) under Drought Stress
Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (JNTBGRI), Palode, Thiruvananthapuram 695562, India
Correspondence should be addressed to K. K. Sabu
Received 31 December 2016; Revised 21 March 2017; Accepted 19 April 2017; Published 31 July 2017
Academic Editor: Michael Hackenberg
Copyright © 2017 N. Anjali et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous, 19–24-nucleotide-long, noncoding RNAs found in animals, plants, and some viruses. Drought is one of the major limiting factors that negatively affect productivity of plants. To date, nothing is known about the regulatory roles of miRNAs in response to drought stress in cardamom. Cardamom collected from the natural forest area in Therakkudi in the Idamalayar forest range was selected for the study. Total RNA was isolated from leaves and stems of control and drought treated cardamom plant, which was used for library construction. Ion torrent sequencing of the two small RNA libraries prepared from plants raised under well irrigated and drought stressed treatments, respectively, created 3,938,342 and 4,083,181 primary reads. A total of 150 conserved and 20 novel microRNAs were identified from both the control and the treated libraries. Discovery of 17 differentially expressed miRNAs under drought stress suggests that these might have been involved in various biological processes to improve plant tolerance to water stress. This study is the first report of drought responsive miRNAs and their targets in cardamom. The outcome of this research could provide insights into the miRNA based regulatory mechanisms in response to drought stress in monocot plants.
