Genome-Wide Analysis of Cotton miRNAs During Whitefly Infestation Offers New Insights into Plant-Herbivore Interaction

Although the regulatory function of miRNAs and their targets have been characterized in model plants, a possible underlying role in the cotton response to herbivore infestation has not been determined. To investigate this, we performed small RNA and degradome sequencing between resistant and susceptible cotton cultivar following infestation with the generalist herbivore whitefly. In total, the 260 miRNA families and 241 targets were identified. Quantitative-PCR analysis revealed that several miRNAs and their corresponding targets exhibited dynamic spatio-temporal expression patterns. Moreover, 17 miRNA precursors were generated from 29 long intergenic non-coding RNA (lincRNA) transcripts. The genome-wide analysis also led to the identification of 85 phased small interfering RNA (phasiRNA) loci. Among these, nine PHAS genes were triggered by miR167, miR390, miR482a, and two novel miRNAs, including those encoding a leucine-rich repeat (LRR) disease resistance protein, an auxin response factor (ARF) and MYB transcription factors. Through combined modeling and experimental data, we explored and expanded the miR390-tasiARF cascade during the cotton response to whitefly. Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) of ARF8 from miR390 target in whitefly-resistant cotton plants increased auxin and jasmonic acid (JA) accumulation, resulting in increased tolerance to whitefly infestation. These results highlight the provides a useful transcriptomic resource for plant-herbivore interaction.