Abstract:

miR398 family is a class of conserved miRNA family in plants. This paper aims to explore the molecular characteristics of plant miR398 family members and interpret their phylogenetic patterns. The matures, precursors and targeted sequences of miR398 family in plants reported in the database were used as the test data. Their molecular characteristics and phylogenetic patterns were analyzed by statistical and bioinformatics methods. MiR398 family members are widely distributed among 34 plant species, and their matures length, nucleotides types, precursors structures, and targeted genes inhibition types are all conformed to typical plant miRNA molecular characteristics. Moreover, the sequences of miR398 matures are more conservative than the precursors, and their stem structures are more conservative than the loop ones. It is found that the miR398 family members in the same plant species have different evolution rates. Additionally, miR398 family among a few plant species has coevolution characteristics. The functional prediction results of miR398 target genes show that miR398 family members are widely involved in plant stress response process via cleaving inhibition. The miR398 family in plants has conservative and polymorphic molecular characteristics, and the miR398 family in different plants has diverse evolutionary patterns. This study can provide certain theoretical references for exploring the mechanism of miR398-mediated stress response in plants.

Key words: miR398 family, molecular characteristic, phylogenetic evolution, targets, coevolution