Project description:MicroRNAs are crucial regulator of reprogramming of gene expression cascade during plant-pathogen interaction. We have used tomato (Pusa Ruby) plant and early blight pathogen, Alternaria for the analysis of tomato miRNA expression profiles in a compatible interaction. Illumina next generation sequencing (NGS) technique based whole transcriptome analysis revealed that, (i) about 188 known miRNAs, ranging from 18nt to 24nt expressed in tomato, which belonged to 124 miRNA families and (ii) both conserved and Solanaceae specific miRNAs were differentially expressed. Most of the miRNAs were down-regulated, and around 7 miRNAs were highly differentially regulated (log2FC ≥ ±3). Furthermore, using stringent selection criteria we could detect approximately 74 putative novel miRNAs. GO terms enrichment and KEGG pathway analyses of predicted targets of differentially expressed miRNAs have been performed to identify the pathways that were perturbed during the infection. Supported by DBT, Govt. of India.
