Microarray-based identification of conserved microRNAs from Pinellia ternata

A large number of microRNAs (miRNAs) reportedly play important roles in plant development; however, scarcely any of these have been found in Pinellia ternata, a herbaceous plant with special physiologic characteristics and important medicinal value. To detect P. ternata miRNAs, an in situ synthesized custom microarray of plant miRNAs was employed, following verification of the presence of the miRNAs through reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) in the current study. A total of 54 miRNAs belonging to 23 miRNA families were identified. RT-PCR applied to the eight miRNAs validated the microarray results. qRT-PCR that targeted eleven miRNAs showed the presence of miRNAs in different tissues with different expression levels, especially, miRNA319 expression level in the tubers is nearly 10 times higher than that in the stalks and leaves. This is the first report on the miRNAs in P. ternata, which will enable further investigation of their roles in P. ternata.