Computational identification of conserved microRNAs and functional annotation of their target genes in Citrus limon Identification of microRNA in Citrus limon

Citrus limon (lemon) is an important fruit crop of Rutaceae family with high nutritive value. The microRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small RNAs, approximately 22 nucleotides long. They are evolutionary conserved and function at post-transcriptional level to regulate the expressivity of genes in both plants and animals. They have crucial roles in different biological and metabolic processes like growth and development, pathogen defense, abiotic and biotic stress response in plants. Computational analysis of Citrus limon expressed sequence tags (ESTs) resulted in the identification of one conserved microRNA (clm-miR5658). The secondary structure of newly identified microRNA was generated based on minimal folding energy (MFE= −50.60 kcal/mol) and minimal folding energy index (MFEI= 0.81). Phylogenetic analysis of miR5658 family revealed a close association of clm-miR5658 with bra-miR5658. Further, a total of 14 potential target genes of the putative miRNA were identified and functionally annotated. The findings of this study will contribute to understand the role of miRNAs in lemon and expected to lay foundation for further research on lemon miRNAs.