Documentation of conserved and novel miRNAs participated in plant secondary metabolic pathways of sanctified Aegle marmelos

MicroRNAs are small sized endogenous non-coding RNA, of ~18‐25 (nt) that regulates the expression of their target genes in plants at post transcriptional level and play very significant roles in multiple biological processes. These ribosw itches may play the role of master regulator in important biological processes and plant metabolic pathways. In the present study, we performed small RNA profiling to identify miRNAs present in the holy tree Aegle marmelos and their involvement in different metabolic pathways. A total of 9,192,725 (88.52%) clean reads out of 10,384,409 (100%) reads were identified with size ranging from 15‐ to 24 nt. Using computational tools and bioinformatics approaches we revealed around 253 conserved miRNAs accounting into 20 miRNA families and a total of 395 annotated targets were found for 6 novel miRNAs within the plant. Functional annotation revealed Homeobox-leucine zipper protein and ERF like transcription factors as targets of conserved miRNAs. The present study provides a first report on elucidation of genome-wide miRNA profile of A. marmelos which can be further explored to manipulate their expression to scale-up biosynthesis of active metabolites using metabolic engineering approaches. •We performed here small RNA profiling to identify miRNAs present in the holy tree Aegle marmelos and their involvement in different metabolic pathways.•We revealed in our study around 253 conserved miRNAs accounting into 20 miRNA families.•A total of 395 annotated targets were found for 6 novel miRNAs within the plant.•Functional annotation revealed Homeobox-leucine zipper protein and ERF like transcription factors as targets of conserved miRNAs.•The present study provides a first report on elucidation of genome-wide miRNA profile of A. marmelos.