Genome-wide identification of miRNAs responsive to drought in peach (Prunus persica) by high-throughput deep sequencing

Peach (Prunus persica L.) is one of the most important worldwide fresh fruits. Since fruit growth largely depends on adequate water supply, drought stress is considered as the most important abiotic stress limiting fleshy fruit production and quality in peach. Plant responses to drought stress are regulated both at transcriptional and post-transcriptional level. As post-transcriptional gene regulators, miRNAs (miRNAs) are small (19–25 nucleotides in length), endogenous, non-coding RNAs. Recent studies indicate that miRNAs are involved in plant responses to drought. Therefore, Illumina deep sequencing technology was used for genome-wide identification of miRNAs and their expression profile in response to drought in peach. In this study, four sRNA libraries were constructed from leaf control (LC), leaf stress (LS), root control (RC) and roo