TamiR1123 originated from a family of miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements (MITE) including one inserted in the Vrn-A1a promoter in wheat

More than half of spring wheat cultivars have a dominant Vrn-A1a allele that has an insertion of a miniature inverted-repeat transposable element (MITE) in its promoter. In this study, we found that the MITE present in the Vrn-A1a gene (MITE_VRN) is a nearly perfect palindrome and it can form highly stable hairpin loops when expressed as RNA. MITE_VRN also possessed sequences of a microRNA in Triticum aestivum (TamiR1123). The P32 labeled TamiR1123 probe detected two RNA molecules on a small RNA gel blot, one expected for MITE_VRN, and the other expected for TamiR1123. These results demonstrated that MITE_VRN was expressed as RNAs and TamiR1123 was originated from the MITE_VRN family. The isogenic line TDD carrying the dominant Vrn-A1a allele with MITE_VRN showed higher TamiR1123 and Vrn-A1a transcript levels than the isogenic line TDE carrying the recessive vrn-A1a allele without MITE_VRN. TamiR1123 were greatly up-regulated by plant age but slightly down-regulated by low temperature and short days. These findings have pointed to alternative regulatory mechanisms for plant development governed by Vrn-A1a in spring wheat.