Identification of miRNAs and their target genes in red clover (Trifolium pretense)

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a group of 18_22 nucleotides long noncoding small endogenous that derived from its precursor sequence and evolutionary conserved post-transcriptional regulatory RNAs, which show an enormous role in various biological and metabolic processes in both animals and plants. MiRNA detection methods including microarray, qRT-PCR , northern blot and bioinformatics methods in which the easiest and cheapest way to identify miRNA is bioinformatics method. A bioinformatics approach was used to identify potential miRNA in red clover. EST-based homology search was applied to find potential miRNA of red clover. We blasted publicly available EST sequences obtained from NCBI GenBank against previously known plant miRNAs. A total of six miRNA target genes based on their complementary sequences were also detected. Target genes encoding mono dehydro ascorbate reductase 1 play an important role in maintaining balance in the cycle of reactive oxygen species ascorbate-glutathione, FES1 proteins that contain zinc finger domain binding DNA, RHF2A gene encoding E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase involved in the positive regulation of the gametogenesis progression, RNA helicase ATP-dependent is involved in the RNA repair and metabolism, Major facilitator superfamily (MFS) is a superfamily of membrane transport proteins that facilitate movement of small solutes across cell membranes in response to chemiosmotic gradients, AT-hook DNA binding motif protein.