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Published on: May 11, 2020
The roles of microRNAs in horticultural plant disease resistance
Aiai Zhang1, Shunshun Zhang1, Feng Wang2
1State Key Laboratory of Vegetable Biobreeding, Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
Abstract:
The development of the horticultural industry is largely limited by disease and excessive pesticide application. MicroRNAs constitute a major portion of the transcriptomes of eukaryotes. Various microRNAs have been recognized as important regulators of the expression of genes involved in essential biological processes throughout the whole life cycle of plants. Recently, small RNA sequencing has been applied to study gene regulation in horticultural plants. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of the biogenesis and contributions of microRNAs in horticultural plant disease resistance. These microRNAs may potentially be used as genetic resources for improving disease resistance and for molecular breeding. The challenges in understanding horticultural plant microRNA biology and the possibilities to make better use of these horticultural plant gene resources in the future are discussed in this review.
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