MIRNA Gene Evolution in Arabidopsis lyrata and Arabidopsis thaliana: 454 sequencing

Deep sequencing of small RNA from three closely related brassicaceae A. thaliana, A. lyrata and Capsella rubella was done to systematically analyze the evolution of MIRNA genes and their targets. Small RNA were extracted from A. lyrata and C. rubella total RNA by size fractionation and converted to DNA amplicons by serial adaptor ligation to both ends followed by RT-PCR. DNA amplicons were sequenced using an Ilumina Genome Analyzer. Resulting sequences were computationally trimmed to remove 3' adaptor sequences.