Abstract
Small RNAs are 20-25nt non-coding RNAs as guides for posttranscriptional and epigenetic regulation. In plants, miRNAs, trans-acting (ta) siRNAs and siRNAs influence their targets through distinct regulation mechanism. Previous report indicated that some of miRNAs have the function in response to environmental stress. However, the profiles of whole-genome small RNAs under abiotic stress have not been well understood. In this study, we analyzed the expression profiles of the small RNAs under drought, cold, high-salinity stress and ABA treatments by 454 DNA sequencing technology and obtained the following results: I) Twelve small RNAs responded to the abiotic stress. II) ta-siRNAs and their precursors were down-regulated significantly under drought, high-salinity and ABA treatment. III) Large amount of siRNAs were generated from transposable elements in response to the abiotic stress. These results suggest that the various types of small RNAs may function in the regulation of the gene expression under abiotic stress.
