Computational identification and characterization of microRNAs in pigeonpea

Abstract

Pigeon pea is avital food legume crop grown in India. Pigeon pea is consumed as green pea, whole grain or split pea. Many studies have been under taken by researchers for the analysis of whole genome sequence of pigeon pea. Also, post transcriptional gene regulation has emerged as an important technology for crop sciences. The discoveries of miRNAs in plants and the growing evidence of their involvement in a variety of functional roles have produced a great deal of excitement in plant biology. Approaches developed for identification of miRNAs are in-vitro, in-silico and combination of both these. This study was undertaken to identify the miRNAs in pigeon pea using computational methods. Eleven miRNAs were identified using this method. This study will help in improved understanding of molecular mechanisms of miRNA and development of novel and more precise techniques for better understanding of post-transcriptional gene silencing in pigeon pea.