Identification of vital candidate microRNA/mRNA pairs regulating ovule development using high-throughput sequencing in h

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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Open Access

Identification of vital candidate microRNA/ mRNA pairs regulating ovule development using high-throughput sequencing in hazel Jianfeng Liu, Qizheng Luo, Xingzheng Zhang, Qiang Zhang and Yunqing Cheng*

Abstract Background: Hazels (Corylus spp.) are economically important nut-producing species in which ovule development determines seed plumpness, one of the key parameters reflecting nut quality. microRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in RNA silencing and the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. However, very little is currently known regarding the miRNAs involved in regulating ovule growth and development. Results: In this study, we accordingly sought to determine the important miRNAs involved in ovule development and growth in hazel. We examined ovules at four developmental stages, namely, ovule formation (Ov1), early ovule growth (Ov2), rapid ovule growth (Ov3), and ovule maturity (Ov4). On the basis of small RNA and mRNA sequencing using the Illumina sequencing platform, we identified 970 miRNAs in hazel, of which 766 and 204 were known and novel miRNAs, respectively. In Ov1-vs-Ov2, Ov1-vs-Ov3, Ov1-vs-Ov4, Ov2-vs-Ov3, Ov2-vs-Ov4, and Ov3-vs-Ov4 paired comparisons, 471 differentially expressed microRNAs (DEmiRNAs) and their 3117 target differentially expressed messenger RNAs (DEmRNAs) formed 11,199 DEmiRNA/DEmRNA pairs, with each DEmiRNA changing the expression of an average of 6.62 target mRNAs. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis of all DEmRNAs revealed 29 significantly enriched KEGG pathways in the six paired comparisons, including protein export (ko03060), fatty acid elongation (ko00062), starch and sucrose metabolism (ko00500), fatty acid biosynthesis (ko00061), and amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism (ko00520). Our results indicate that DEmiRNA/DEmRNA pairs showing opposite change trends were related to stress tolerance, embryo and seed development, cell proliferation, auxin transduction, and the biosynthesis of proteins, starch, and fats may participate in ovule growth and development. Conclusions: These findings contribute to a better understanding of ovule development at the level of post-transcriptional regulation, and lay the foundation for further functional analyses of hazelnut ovule growth and development. Keywords: microRNA, mRNA, Transcriptome, Ovule, Development, Hazel

Background Hazels (Corylus spp.) are important nut-producing species in the Betulaceae family (order: Fagales), the nut kernel of which is an important raw material in food processing industries [1]. After shelling, plump hazel kernels are generally processed as toasted kernels due to their desirable * Correspondence: [email protected] Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resource Science and Green Production, Jilin Normal University, Siping, Jilin Province 136000, PR China

appearance, whereas less well developed and shriveled kernels are processed for oil, powder, jam, and kernel crumb. Seed plumpness is, therefore, an important param