Multi-omics analysis reveals a link between Brassica -specific miR1885
and rapeseed tolerance to low temperature
Abstract
Brassica crops include various edible vegetable and plant oil
crops, and their production is limited by low temperature beyond their
tolerant capability. The key regulators of low-temperature resistance in
Brassica remain largely unexplored. To identify
post-transcriptional regulators of plant response to low temperature, we
performed small RNA profiling, and found that 16 known miRNAs were
responsive to cold treatment in Brassica rapa. The cold response
of seven of those miRNAs were further confirmed by qRT-PCR and/or
northern blotting analyses. In parallel, a genome-wide association study
of 220 accessions of Brassica napus identified four candidate
MIRNA genes, all of which were cold-responsive, at the loci associated
with low temperature resistance. Specifically, these large-scale data
analyses revealed a link between miR1885 and the plant response to low
temperature in both B. rapa and B. napus. Using 5′ rapid
amplification of cDNA ends approach, we validated that miR1885 can
cleave its putative target transcripts, Bn.TIR.A09 and
Bn.TNL.A03, in B. napus. Furthermore, overexpression of
miR1885 in Semi-winter type B. napus decreased the mRNA abundance
of Bn.TIR.A09 and Bn.TNL.A03, resulting in increased
sensitivity to low temperature. Knocking down of miR1885 in Spring type
B. napus led to increased mRNA abundance of its targets and
improved rapeseed tolerance to low temperature. Together, our results
suggested that the loci of miR1885 and its targets could be potential
candidates for the molecular breeding of low temperature-tolerant Spring
type Brassica crops.