Jacalin Lectin At5g28520 Is Regulated By ABA and miR846

Abstract

Plant microRNAs (miRNAs) are important regulators of development and stress responses and are oftentimes under transcriptional regulation by stresses and plant hormones. We recently showed that polycistronic MIR842 and MIR846 are expressed from the same primary transcript which is subject to alternative splicing. ABA treatment affects the alternative splicing of the primary cistronic transcript which results in differential expression of the two miRNAs that are predicted to target the same family of jacalin lectin genes. One variant of miR846 in roots can direct the cleavage of AT5G28520, which is also highly upregulated by ABA in roots. In this addendum, we present additional results further supporting the regulation of AT5G28520 by MIR846 using a T-DNA insertion line mapping upstream of MIR842 and MIR846. We also show that AT5G28520 is transcriptionally induced by ABA and this induction is subject to ABA signaling effectors in seedlings. Based on previous results and data presented in this paper, we propose an interaction loop between MIR846, AT5G28520 and ABA in roots.

Keywords: :

• alternative splicing
• microRNA
• root
• abscisic acid
• plant development
• pri-miRNA

Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest

No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health grant GM077245 to C.D.R. and a Texas Tech University AT&T Chancellor’s Fellowship to F.J. The funders had no role in the study design, in the collection, analysis or interpretation of data or in the writing of the manuscript or decision to submit the manuscript for publication.