MicroRNAs involving in cold, wounding and salt stresses in Triticum aestivum L.

• Three novel wheat miRNAs were predicted and identified.
• Abiotic stress-related miRNAs were identified QRT-PCR and northern blot.
• Promoter sequences of selected miRNAs showed multiple stress-relevant cis-elements.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play critical roles in post-transcriptional regulation and act as important endogenous regulators to various stresses. Cold, wounding and high-salinity are three common environmental stress stimuli influencing crops growth and development. In this study, we identified 31 known miRNAs and 3 novel miRNAs in wheat. Moreover, 19 stress-regulated miRNAs using RT-qPCR data in which the effects of three stresses were surveyed from the known miRNAs. Among them, 16, 12 and 8 miRNAs were regulated under cold, wounding and high-salinity treatments, respectively. Of which 4 miRNAs were highly responsive to cold stress in wheat by northern blot, and 6 wounding-regulated and 3 high-salinity-regulated miRNAs were detected. Meanwhile, miR159, miR393 and miR398 were responsive to multiple stress stimuli. Besides, 2 novel miRNAs were regulated by cold stress. While, the analyses of targets suggested miR159, miR398 and miR6001 could responses to stress conditions in regulation pathways. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that wheat miRNAs may play important roles in response to abiotic stress.