Function identification of miR159a, a positive regulator during poplar resistance to drought stress

Abstract

Drought seriously affects the growth and development of plants. MiR159 is a highly conserved and abundant microRNA family that plays a crucial role in plant growth and stress responses. However, studies of its function in woody plants are still lacking. Here, the expression of miR159a was significantly upregulated after drought treatment in poplar, and the overexpression of miR159a (OX159a) significantly reduced the open area of the stomata and improved water-use efficiency in poplar. After drought treatment, OX159a lines had better scavenging ability of reactive oxygen species and damage of the membrane system was less than that in wild-type lines. MYB was the target gene of miR159a, as verified by psRNATarget prediction, RT–qPCR, degradome sequencing, and 5' rapid amplification of cDNA ends (5' RACE). Additionally, miR159a–short tandem target mimic suppression (STTM) poplar lines showed increased sensitivity to drought stress. Transcriptomic analysis comparing OX159a lines with wild-type lines revealed upregulation of a series of genes related to response to water deprivation and metabolite synthesis. Moreover, drought-responsive miR172d and miR398 were significantly upregulated and downregulated respectively in OX159a lines. This investigation demonstrated that miR159a played a key role in the tolerance of poplar to drought by reducing stomata open area, increasing the number and total area of xylem vessels, and enhancing water-use efficiency, and provided new insights into the role of plant miR159a and crucial candidate genes for the molecular breeding of trees with tolerance to drought stress.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32371577), the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (6232030) and the Major Project of Agricultural Biological Breeding (2022ZD0401503).

Author contributions

Y.W. designed the experiments and supervised the project; T.F. and C.W. analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; T.F., Y.Y., J.W., and L.Z. performed the experiments; Z.W., X.Y., and Y.W. revised the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Data availability

Raw Illumina sequencing data have been deposited in the China National GeneBank DataBase (CNGBdb) and can be accessed in the CNGB Sequence Archive (accession number CNP0003827). All data generated or analyzed during this investigation are included in this published article and its supplementary information files.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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