Apple CALCINEURIN B-LIKE PROTEIN10 genes have evolved to be novel targets of miR167s through sequence variation

Abstract

The miR167s and its target ARF6/8 are relatively conserved among diverse plant species and have been implicated in reproductive and root development in Arabidopsis. Here we show that some of the CNBL family members have evolved to be targets of miR167s in apple. Despite strong conservation between apple and Arabidopsis CNBLs, AtCNBLs are not miR167 targets. The sequence variation in apple-miR167a and MdCNBLs has created target sites for apple-miR167a in MdCNBL10s. Therefore, we suggest that during the course of evolution, natural selection through sequence variation played a crucial role by choosing different targets among plant species for the same miRNA.