MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been prevalently studied in plants, animals, and viruses. However, recent studies show evidences of miRNA-like RNAs (milRNAs) in fungi as well. It is known that after successful infection, pathogens hijack the host machinery and use it for their own growth and multiplication. Alternatively, resistant plants can overcome the pathogen attack by a variety of mechanisms. Based on this prior knowledge, we computationally predicted milRNAs from 13 fungi, and identified their targets in transcriptomes of the respective fungi as well as their host plants. The expressions of the milRNAs and targets were confirmed using qRT-PCR. We found that plant miRNAs targeted fungal virulence genes, while fungal milRNAs targeted plant resistance genes; corroborating miRNA-mediated trans-kingdom gene regulation and the roles of miRNAs in plant-pathogen interactions. Transgenic plants with miRNAs targeting fungal virulence genes, or anti-sense of fungal milRNAs, would be expected to be highly resistant to the fungal pathogens.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) 已在植物、动物和病毒中得到广泛研究。然而，最近的研究表明真菌中也存在 miRNA 样 RNA (milRNA) 的证据。众所周知，感染成功后，病原体会劫持宿主机器并将其用于自身的生长和繁殖。或者，抗性植物可以通过多种机制克服病原体攻击。基于这些先验知识，我们通过计算预测了 13 种真​​菌的 milRNA，并在各自真菌及其宿主植物的转录组中确定了它们的靶标。使用 qRT-PCR 确认了 milRNA 和靶标的表达。我们发现植物miRNAs靶向真菌毒力基因，而真菌milRNAs靶向植物抗性基因；证实了 miRNA 介导的跨界基因调控和 miRNA 在植物-病原体相互作用中的作用。具有靶向真菌毒力基因或真菌 milRNA 反义的 miRNA 的转基因植物有望对真菌病原体具有高度抗性。