Abstract

Soil salinity inhibits plant growth and productivity by exerting osmotic and ionic stress to the plants. Tolerance to soil salt is controlled by a coordinated action of multiple genes coding for signalling molecules, ion transporters, metabolic enzymes and transcription regulators. microRNAs (miRNAs)are important regulators of gene expression that act at the post-transcriptional level. They target transcripts for cleavage or translation repression in a sequence specific manner. By orchestrating the expression of key transcripts they act as genetic shieldsin regulating plant’s response to stress caused by increasing soil salinity.We adopted the approach of Next Generation Sequencing (Illumina) for profiling and comparing the expression patterns of rice miRNAs. The expression profiles were validated using natural varieties and transgenic rice lines with contrasting behaviours in response to salt-stress. Time kinetics studies helped to apprehend the narrow windows of miRNA:target correlations indicating their role in stress response and development.The studies have indicated novel outcomes that can be utilized to prepare “smart plants”, as an enduring step to fight salt stress mediated decline in crop yields.