RESEARCH ARTICLE Identification of miRNAs a i

Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleBackground Maize is one of the most productive crops worldwide, and is widely used as a model plant in genetics research [1]. Maize produces two distinct inflorescences, commonly re-ferred to as the tassel and the ear. In this respect, it differs from other grasses such as rice and wheat. The tassel arises from the apex of the mature plant, while ears originate from axillary bud apices [2]. One obvious difference in morphology between the two inflorescences is the pres-ence (tassel) or absence (ear) of a variable number of long branches originating at the base. In previous studies, the wide range of natural variation among different inbred lines was used to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) un-derlying a variety of phenotypes by association mapping [3,4]. Several genes associated with maize ear development have been identified in genetic and molecular studies [2]. However, knowledge about maize ear development is still limited, and most of the genes involved in this process ar