Temporal expression study of microRNAs in crown tissues of winter wheat grown under natural growth condition

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are single strand small non-coding RNAs that regulate target mRNAs at post-transcription level. Winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), is an important crop plant all over the world. Long term cold exposure (vernalization) is necessary for winter wheat transition from vegetative growth to reproductive growth, yet the involvement of miRNAs in these stages remains unknown. Therefore, we performed next generation sequencing of small RNAs profiles in crown tissues at three-leaf stage, winter dormancy stage, spring greenup stage and jointing stage. To identify miRNAs involved in winter wheat growth and development in te field, winter wheat cultivar Shimai 22 was grown in the field under natural weather condition. Crown tissues were collected at 4 different growth and development stages: three leaf stage, winter dormancy stage, spring greenup stage and jointing stage, small RNA libraries were constructed, and BGISEQ500 RS (BGI, China) sequencing platform was used for small RNA libraries sequencing.