Computational Identification of Novel MicroRNAs and Their Targets in Vigna unguiculata

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class endogenous, noncoding, short RNAs directly involved in regulating gene expression at the posttranscriptional level. High conversation of miRNAs in plant provides the founation for identification of new miRNAs in other plant species through homology alignment. Here, previous known plant miRNAs were BLASTed against the Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) and Genomic Survey Sequence (GSS) databases of Vigna unguiculata, and according to a series of filtering criteria, a total of 47 miRNAs belonging to 13 miRNAs families were identified, and 30 potential target genes of them were subsequently predicted, most of which seemd to encode transcription factors or enzymes paritcipating in regulation of development, growth, metabolism, and other physiological processes. Overall, our findings lay the foundation for further researches of miRNAs function in Vigna unguiculata.