Insilico analysis of drought tolerant Micro- RNAs in Maize

Promoters play a very essential role in regulating gene expression at the transcriptional level. Studies of promoters are very crucial and important to improve our basic understanding of gene regulation and will also enhance toolbox of available promoters for further use in agricultural biotechnology. In the present study the promoter sequences have been predicted for seven drought tolerant microRNAs genes and also their contributing cis - acting elements have been predicted, as they provide insights into plant signaling behavior under drought stress and gene regulation. The function of a regulatory RNA molecule to a large extent is determined by its structure. Computational tools and methods for modelling and predicting secondary structure provide us with useful initial models for solving the tertiary structure by NMR. We have predicted the secondary structure of the miRNAs on the basis of minimum free energy. The phylogenetic tree has been generated by using the precursor miRNA sequence has served to clarify significantly the evolutionary relationship of these drought tolerant microRNAs in maize with other crops.