Identification and characterization of miRNA transcriptome in Jatropha curcas by high-throughput sequencing

miRNAs are 20-25 nucleotide, endogenous small noncoding RNA molecules playing crucial roles in the regulation of gene expression at the post-transcriptional level in eukaryotes and viruses. The discovery of miRNAs in plants is an ongoing process, but very less systematic and comprehensive study has been performed on Jatropha curcas, one of the most promising biofuel crop world-wide. We used Illumina-based highthroughput sequencing and analysis of leaf small RNAs and predicted their putative targets. In the current study we identified 266 conserved miRNA which belongs to 78 miRNA families and 62 novel miRNAs. It would be interesting to explore the possibilities of involvement of miRNAs in the regulation of several genes which could be further utilized in genetic manipulations for enhanced production of biodiesel.