Project description:The total RNA were extracted from pooled tissues of leaves and flowers from several plants of chickpea (Cicer arietinum) using TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer's instructions. Then small RNAs ranging in 18–30 nucleotides were size fractionated electrophoretically, isolated from the gel, ligated with the 5′ and 3′ RNA adapters. The ligated product was reverse transcribed and subsequently amplified using 10–12 PCR cycles. The purified PCR product was sequenced using Illumina Genome Analyzer II. The qualified reads were used to predict microRNAs and phased small interfering RNAs from chickpea. Identification of microRNAs and phased small inferfering RNAs in chickpea (Cicer arietinum) by analyzing small RNA sequencing profiles of leaves and flowers using Illumina GAII.