AUTHOR=Chitarra Walter , Pagliarani Chiara , Abbà Simona , Boccacci Paolo , Birello Giancarlo , Rossi Marika , Palmano Sabrina , Marzachì Cristina , Perrone Irene , Gambino Giorgio 

TITLE=miRVIT: A Novel miRNA Database and Its Application to Uncover Vitis Responses to Flavescence dorée Infection

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2018.01034

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2018.01034

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Micro(mi)RNAs play crucial roles in plant developmental processes and in defense responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. In the last years, many works on small RNAs in grapevine (<italic>Vitis</italic> spp.) were published, and several conserved and putative novel grapevine-specific miRNAs were identified. In order to reorganize the high quantity of available data, we produced “miRVIT,” the first database of all novel grapevine miRNA candidates characterized so far, and still not deposited in miRBase. To this aim, each miRNA accession was renamed, repositioned in the last version of the grapevine genome, and compared with all the novel and conserved miRNAs detected in grapevine. Conserved and novel miRNAs cataloged in miRVIT were then used for analyzing <italic>Vitis vinifera</italic> plants infected by <italic>Flavescence dorée</italic> (FD), one of the most severe phytoplasma diseases affecting grapevine. The analysis of small RNAs from healthy, recovered (plants showing spontaneous and stable remission of symptoms), and FD-infected “Barbera” grapevines showed that FD altered the expression profiles of several miRNAs, including those involved in cell development and photosynthesis, jasmonate signaling, and disease resistance response. The application of miRVIT in a biological context confirmed the effectiveness of the followed approach, especially for the identification of novel miRNA candidates in grapevine. miRVIT database is available at <ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://mirvit.ipsp.cnr.it" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">http://mirvit.ipsp.cnr.it</ext-link>.</p><p><bold>Highlights:</bold> The application of the newly produced database of grapevine novel miRNAs to the analysis of plants infected by <italic>Flavescence dorée</italic> reveals key roles of miRNAs in photosynthesis and jasmonate signaling.</p>