miR166h Directed Cleavage of Target Upon PGPR Inoculation Under Drought Stress and Tissue-Specific Expression Analysis Under Abiotic Stresses in Chickpea.

Abstract

Legumes are an indispensable food after cereals with extensive production across the world. The legume production is imposed with limitations and has been augmented by various environmental stresses. The symbiotic relations between legumes and rhizobacteria have been an intriguing topic of research in view of their roles in plant growth, development and various stress responses. Recent advances on gene networks involving plethora of evolutionarily conserved miRNAs have been investigated pertaining to their roles in plant stress responses. The interaction between plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) strain Pseudomonas putida RA, MTCC5279 and abiotic stress responsive miRNAs have previously been studied with roles in abiotic stress mitigation by modulating stress responsive miRNAs and their target genes. The present studyis an investigation involving the role of RA in abiotic stress responsive miR166h for drought mitigation in tolerant desi chickpea genotype. miRNA166 directed cleavage of its target, ATHB15 has been drifted of drought treated plantlets upon RA inoculation using 5´RLM-RACE analysis. Drought stressed chickpea plants when inoculated with growth promoting rhizobacteria, RA, the inverse correlation in expression patterns were noticed in miR166h and its validated target, ATHB15. Tissue-specific expression patterns in 15 days old chickpea seedlings including leaves, shoot and roots when exposed to salinity, drought and abscisic acid at different time points indicated the role of miR166 in different abiotic stress response. In view of the results, validation and functional characterization of such interactions involving stress responsive miRNAs along with microbial stress management techniques could be an important technique for crop improvement.