The Small RNA Landscape of Maize Meiosis

Our lab focuses on plant meiosis and meiotic recombination. Previously, we examined the meiotic transcriptome in maize, especially focusing on genes that are up-regulated in male meiocytes (cells undergoing meiosis) compared with somatic seedling tissue. We now extended our high-throughput sequencing datasets to include DNA methylation, the histone mark H3K4me3, and small RNAs.

Our approaches use Illumina sequencing on isolated meiocytes during zygotene (an early stage during prophase I), yielding superior insight into the early meiotic process when recombination is initiated - devoid of any contamination by surrounding tissue.

Here, we will present our newest analysis on the small RNA species. Micro RNAs are the best characterized small RNA species, although usually not the most abundant one, and involved in gene regulation. We found micro RNAs up-regulated in meiocytes and examined their predicted target genes. Interestingly, the most abundant small RNA species we found in maize meiosis are phased and have no elucidated function yet.