Identification of evolutionary conserved muskmelon non-coding miRNAs and their target proteins using computational approach and its utility in phylogeny analysis

The class of tiny, single-stranded, non-coding RNAs known as microRNAs (miRNAs) consist of 18 to 26 nucleotides. By inhibiting post-transcriptional gene expression, miRNAs govern a variety of biological processes. MiRNAs play a critical role in controlling the growth and development of plants. We studied expressed sequence tags data from different species [Arabidopsis lyrata (aly), Arabidopsis thaliana (ath), etc.] to identify muskmelon miRNAs and their target genes. By investigating miRNAs in muskmelon, the current study has focused on miRNA verification and expressional analysis. The muskmelon-expressed sequence tags were used in the current investigation to identify 19 novel non-coding miRNAs with minimum folding energy values ranging from -10.10 to -50.40 kcal/mole. The newly predicted muskmelon miRNAs have several target genes using the psRNA-Target tool connected with Gene Ontology enrichment analysis. As a result, a total of roughly 56 targets were predicted in response to biotic and abiotic stress. For instance, the metabolism and enzyme activity of muskmelon is regulated by the miR5043, miR5998, miR11161 and miR11576. Similarly, miR1888, miR2079 and miR5042 typically control plant hormones. Our findings suggest that the Cucurbitaceae family possesses miRNAs that are both conserved and specialized and will help to target genes which will be crucial for Cucurbitaceae plant growth and development.