Novel and conserved miRNAs in the halophyte Suaeda maritima identified by deep sequencing and computational predictions using the ESTs of two mangrove plants

BACKGROUND: Although miRNAs are reportedly involved in the salt stress tolerance of plants, miRNA profiling in plants has largely remained restricted to glycophytes, including certain crop species that do not exhibit any tolerance to salinity. Hence, this manuscript describes the results from the miRNA profiling of the halophyte Suaeda maritima, which is used worldwide to study salt tolerance in plants. RESULTS: A total of 134 conserved miRNAs were identified from unique sRNA reads, with 126 identified using miRBase 21.0 and an additional eight identified using the Plant Non-coding RNA Database. The presence of the precursors of seven conserved miRNAs was validated in S. maritima. In addition, 13 novel miRNAs were predicted using the ESTs of two mangrove plants, Rhizophora mangle and Heritiera littoralis, and the precursors of seven miRNAs were found in S. maritima. Most of the miRNAs considered for characterization were responsive to NaCl application, indicating their importance in the regulation of metabolic activities in plants exposed to salinity. An expression study of the novel miRNAs in plants of diverse ecological and taxonomic groups revealed that two of the miRNAs, sma-miR6 and sma-miR7, were also expressed in Oryza sativa, whereas another two, sma-miR2 and sma-miR5, were only expressed in plants growing under the influence of seawater, similar to S. maritima. CONCLUSION: The distribution of conserved miRNAs among only 25 families indicated the possibility of identifying a greater number of miRNAs with increase in knowledge of the genomes of more halophytes. The expression of two novel miRNAs, sma-miR2 and sma-miR5, only in plants growing under the influence of seawater suggested their metabolic regulatory roles specific to saline environments, and such behavior might be mediated by alterations in the expression of certain genes, modifications of proteins leading to changes in their activity and production of secondary metabolites as revealed by the miRNA target predictions. Moreover, the auxin responsive factor targeted by sma-miR7 could also be involved in salt tolerance because the target is conserved between species. This study also indicated that the transcriptome of one species can be successfully used to computationally predict the miRNAs in other species, especially those that have similar metabolism, even if they are taxonomically separated. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12870-015-0682-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.