Comparative analysis of microRNA expression profiles in shoot and root tissues of contrasting rice cultivars (Oryza sativa L.) with different salt stress tolerance

Rice is the second-most important primary crop in the world and one of the most susceptible crops to salt stress. Soil salinization hinders seedling growth and decreases crop yield by inducing ionic and osmotic imbalances, photosynthesis disturbances, cell wall alterations, and gene expression inhibition. Plants have developed a range of defense mechanisms to adapt to salt stress. One of the most effective means is to make use of plant microRNAs (miRNAs) as post-transcriptional regulators to regulate the expression of developmental genes in order to mitigate the detrimental effects of salt stress. In this study, the miRNA sequencing data between two contrasting rice cultivars, salt-tolerant Doc Phung (DP) and salt-sensitive IR28 seedlings, were compared under control and salt stress (150 mM NaCl) conditions to determine the salt stress-responsive miRNAs. Comparative analysis of miRNA sequencing data detected a total of 69 differentially expressed miRNAs in response to salt stress treatment. Among them, 18 miRNAs from 13 gene families, MIR156, MIR164, MIR167, MIR168, MIR171, MIR396, MIR398, MIR1432, MIR1846, MIR1857, MIR1861, MIR3979, and MIR5508, were identified to be specifically and significantly expressed in the shoot and root tissues of DP seedlings. Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses further revealed that these detected miRNAs regulate a range of essential biological and stress response processes, including gene transcription, osmotic homeostasis, root formation, ROS scavenger synthesis, and auxin and abscisic acid signaling pathways. Our findings provide more insight into the miRNA-mediated responsive mechanisms of rice under salt stress and should benefit the improvement of salt stress tolerance in rice.