Delineating microRNA169-Nuclear Factor Y-Subunit a module for its potential implications in crop improvement

Abstract

Climate change considerably impacts plant growth and productivity by inducing stress responses. This, along with the problems of feeding the ever-increasing global population, could be mitigated by generating climate-resilient crop varieties with enhanced productivity. However, an exhaustive account of the key regulatory processes that underlie developmental and stress-responsive pathways is a prerequisite for generating improved crop varieties. Towards this, our study, for the first time, provides an exhaustive compilation of the potential regulatory pathways impacted by the miR169-NFYA network in plants. The NFYA transcription factors belong to a class of nuclear factor-encoding genes directly influencing the transcription of many genes involved in developmental and stress responses. Meanwhile, miR169 provides a layer to NFYA-mediated gene regulation by post-transcriptionally suppressing the expression of these transcription factors. Evidence from several studies shed light on key molecular signatures related to hormone synthesis and signaling, calcium signaling, epigenetic regulation, nutrient starvation and miRNA biogenesis that could serve as downstream components of the miR169-NFYA cascade in plants. This ability of miR169-NFYA nexus to impact a wide range of biological processes makes it a suitable toolbox for developing tailor-made crop varieties through appropriate genetic manipulation strategies.