small RNAs in Metarhizium robertsii wild type and ?dcl2

Small RNAs profiling by high throughput sequencing in the WT and ?dcl2 mutant. Overall design: Dicers are RNase III ribonucleases that generate the small RNA duplexes from double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) precursors. Despite their importance, the potential roles of Dicers in entomopathogenic fungus are still unknown. Based on the clear phenotype in the ?dcl2 mutant, we applied high-throughput sequencing technology to identify sRNAs that are differentially expressed in the WT and ?dcl2 and found that 4 known milRNAs and 8 novel milRNAs were Mrdcl2-dependent in M. robertsii. Taking together, Dicer and the sRNAs it produces, play very important roles in growth and development in M. robertsii by regulating gene expression.