Project description:Salvia miltiorrhiza is one of the most popular traditional medicinal herbs in Asian nations. Its dried root contains a number of tanshinones, protocatechuic aldehyde, salvianolic acid B and rosmarinic, and is used for the treatment of various diseases. To make clear the molecular mechanism of tanshinones biosynthesis in S. miltiorrhiza, the tissue-specific miRNAs and their target genes were identified by high-throughput sequencing and degradome analysis. A total of 452 known miRNAs corresponding to 589 pre-miRNAs, and 40 novel miRNAs corresponding to 24 pre-miRNAs were identified in different tissues of S. miltiorrhiza, respectively. Among them, 62 miRNAs express only in root, 95 miRNAs express only in stem, 19 miRNAs express only in leaf, and 71 miRNAs express only in flower, respectively. By the degradome analysis, 69 targets potentially cleaved by 25 miRNAs were identified. Among them, Acetyl-CoA C-acetyltransferase was identified in S. miltiorrhiza, which was cleaved by miR5072 and involved in the biosynthesis of tanshinones. This study provided valuable information for understanding the tissues expression patterns of miRNAs, and offered a foundation for future studies of the miRNA-mediated tanshinones biosynthesis in S. miltiorrhiza.
