Mdm-MIR393b-mediated adventitious root formation by targeted regulation of MdTIR1A expression and weakened sensitivity to auxin in apple rootstock

Abstract Adventitious root (AR) formation is of great significance for apple rootstock breeding. It is widely accepted that miR393 influences AR formation in many plant species; however, the molecular mechanism by which factors regulate AR formation remains insufficient. In this study, the evolutionary relationship of mdm-miR393 and candidate target genes MdTIR1/AFB was systematically identified, and the expression patterns were analysed. Multisequence alignment analysis of miR393 family members suggests that miR393 conservatively evolved between different species. The evolutionary relationship of the TIR1/AFBs can be divided into G1, G2 and G3 subgroups. During AR formation, the expression level of mdm-miR393a/b/c was significantly upregulated at 1 d and 7 d by exogenous auxin treatment. Furthermore, the expression levels of MdTIR1A, MdTIR1D, MdAFB1, MdAFB2, MdAFB3, MdAFB4 and MdAFB8 also appeared to be significantly changed by exogenous auxin induction. Subsequently, tissue-specific expression analysis showed that the expression levels of mdm-miR393 and MdTIR1/AFBs in different tissues exhibited significant differences. The promoter of mdm-miR393 contains multiple elements that respond to ABA, adversity and light signals; auxin treatment can activate the mdm-MIR393b promoter but is obviously inhibited by NPA treatment. The targeting relationship between mdm-MIR393b and MdTIR1A was verified by expression patterns, degradation group data, transient tobacco conversion results, and genes functions experiments. Heterologous overexpression of mdm-MIR393b (35S::mdm-MIR393b) decreased the number of ARs in the phenotype and reduced the expression level of the target gene NtTIR1 in tobacco. Compared to the wild type, the 35S::mdm-MIR393b transgenic plants demonstrated insensitivity to auxin. Furthermore, tir1 mutant exhibited reduced root system structure relative to the control. The above results illustrated that mdm-MIR393b is involved in mediating AR formation by targeted regulation of MdTIR1A expression in apple rootstock.