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Exploring the miRNA-mediated response to combined stress conditions in melon plants.
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  • Pascual Villalba-vermell,
  • Joan Marquez-Molins,
  • Maria Carmen Marques-Romero,
  • Andrea Hernandez-Azurdia,
  • Julia Corell Sierra,
  • Maria Belen Pico-Sirvent,
  • Antonio Monforte,
  • Santiago Elena,
  • Gustavo Gomez
Pascual Villalba-vermell
I2SysBio
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Joan Marquez-Molins
I2SysBio
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Maria Carmen Marques-Romero
I2SysBio
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Andrea Hernandez-Azurdia
I2SysBio
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Julia Corell Sierra
I2SysBio
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Maria Belen Pico-Sirvent
Instituto Universitario de Conservación y Mejora de la Agrodiversidad Valenciana
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Antonio Monforte
Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas (IBMCP)
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Santiago Elena
I2SysBio
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Gustavo Gomez
I2SysBio

Corresponding Author:gustavo.gomez@csic.es

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Abstract

Climate change has been associated with a higher incidence of combined adverse environmental conditions that can promote a significant decrease in crop productivity. However, knowledge on how a combination of stresses might affect plant development is still scarce. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been proposed as potential targets for improving crop-productivity. Here, we have combined deep-sequencing, computational characterization of responsive miRNAs and validation of their regulatory role in a comprehensive analysis of melon’s response to several combinations of four stresses (cold, salinity, short day, and infection with a fungus). Twenty-two miRNA families responding to double and/or triple stresses were identified. The regulatory role of the differentially expressed miRNAs was validated by quantitative measurements of the expression of the corresponding target genes. A high proportion (ca. 60%) of these families (mainly highly conserved miRNAs targeting transcription factors) showed a non-additive response to multiple stresses in comparison with that observed under each one of the stresses individually. Among those miRNAs showing non-additive response to stress-combinations, most interactions were negative suggesting the existence of functional convergence in the miRNA-mediated response to combined stresses. Taken together, our results provide compelling evidences that the response to combined stresses cannot be easily predicted from the study individual stresses.