Low oxygen responsive small RNAs in Arabidopsis

Low-oxygen stress associated with natural phenomena such as waterlogging, results in widespread transcriptome changes and a metabolic switch from aerobic respiration to anaerobic fermentation. High-throughput sequencing of small RNA libraries obtained from low-oxygen stressed and control root tissue identified a total of 65 unique microRNA (miRNA) sequences from 46 families, and 14 trans-acting small interfering RNA (tasiRNA) from 3 families. Low-oxygen stress resulted in changes to the abundance of 46 miRNAs from 19 families, and all 3 tasiRNA families. Chemical inhibition of mitochondrial respiration caused similar changes in expression in a majority of the low-oxygen responsive small RNAs analysed. Our data indicate that miRNAs and tasiRNAs play a role in gene regulation and possibly developmental responses to low oxygen, and that a major signal for these responses is likely to be dependent on mitochondrial function. Keywords: Small RNA transcriptome analysis Overall design: Examination of root tissue under 2 different environments, control and low oxygen