Tuning the Orchestra: miRNAs in Plant Immunity

miRNAs act as negative modulators of target genes and play key roles in post-transcriptional gene regulation through sequence-specific mRNA cleavage and translational inhibition. Two recent reports highlight the orchestrated role of miRNA2111 and miRNA172b in plant innate immunity [ 1 Tsikou D. et al. Systemic control of legume susceptibility to rhizobial infection by a mobile microRNA. Science. 2018; 362 : 233-236 Crossref PubMed Scopus (3) Google Scholar , 2 Zou Y. et al. Transcriptional regulation of the immune receptor FLS2 controls the ontogeny of plant innate immunity. Plant Cell. 2018; 30 : 2779-2794 PubMed Google Scholar ] ( Science 2018;362:233–236; Plant Cell 2018;30:2779–2794)