microRNA Regulation of Fruit Development

Abstract

A fruit is commonly defined as a mature ovary containing seeds and represents a defining characteristic of the angiosperm phylum. For this reason, being the fruit responsible for seed spreading, it assumes a key role in the adaptive success of angiosperms and a large variety of fruit types have evolved. During fruit development, every step is strictly regulated by complex molecular mechanisms, including post-transcriptional regulation by microRNAs. However, the fragmentary nature of information produced so far prevents a global vision of the system and makes difficult a possible comparison between different fruit types. To overcome this limitation the availability of the genome sequence of many fruit-bearing species, the analysis of their genome structure, gene pathways, and gene function are the first essential steps to increase our understanding of fruit development. Starting from the analysis of the information available in miRNA databases, we have analysed conserved fruit type-specific miRNA families and miRNA expression information available in the literature for identifying potential functions of miRNAs. All this information is discussed by considering evolutionary relationships and structural patterning in different fruit types.