Abstract
Drought is a major factor which reduces cane growth and productivity. In the present study, we sequenced drought susceptible (V1) and drought tolerant (V2) sugarcane varieties using high-throughput miRNA deep sequencing method to study the regulation of gene expression by miRNAs during drought stress in sugarcane. A total of 1224 conserved miRNAs which belong to 89 miRNA families were identified and 38% of the differentially regulated miRNAs were common for both varieties. Additionally 435 novel miRNAs were also identified from four small RNA libraries. We identified 145 miRNAs that were differentially expressed in susceptible variety (V1-31) and 143 miRNAs differentially expressed in the tolerant variety (V2-31). Target prediction revealed that the genes mainly encoded transcription factors, proteins, phosphatase and kinases involved in signal transduction pathways, integral component of membrane and inorganic ion transport metabolism, enzymes involved in carbohydrate transport and metabolism and drought-stress-related proteins involved in defense mechanisms. Pathway analysis of targets revealed that "General function prediction only" was the most significant pathway observed in both tolerant and susceptible genotypes followed by "signal transduction mechanisms". Functional annotation of the transcripts revealed genes like calcium-dependent protein kinase, respiratory burst oxidase, caffeic acid 3-O-methyltransferase, peroxidase, calmodulin, glutathione S-transferase and transcription factors like MYB, WRKY that are involved in drought tolerant pathways. qRT-PCR was used to verify the expression levels of miRNAs and their potential targets obtained from RNA sequencing results. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-021-02857-x.