Small RNAs are 20-30 nucleotides long non-coding RNAs. Small RNA-mediated post-transcriptional regulation represents a new mechanism of gene regulation and plays important roles in plant growth and development as well as responses to different environmental stresses. In plants, there are tremendous amount of small RNAs of various types. The advance of high-throughput sequencing technology has significantly facilitated their discoveries. In this review, in addition to a brief introduction of small RNA features, the authors attempted to summarize recent progresses in small RNA research using next generation sequencing technology and aim to highlight the new insights in their genome organization, function and evolution in plants.%小分子RNA是一类长约20～30个核苷酸的非编码RNA分子,其介导的转录后基因调控是植物中的一种新型基因调控机制.它在植物的生长发育和适应外界各种环境胁迫的过程中起着非常重要的作用.植物中小分子RNA数量巨大、种类繁多,而高通量测序技术的出现大大加快了它们的发现过程.本文在简要介绍目前已知植物小分子RNA的类型及特点的基础上,综合阐述近年来利用高通量测序技术克隆和分析植物小分子RNA的研究成果,以期反映当前植物小分子RNA的基因组分布规律、功能和进化等方面的最新研究进展.
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