Unraveling Tissue-Specific miRNAs' Role in Plants Exploiting the GAL4/UAS System

The 20-21 nucleotides non-coding RNAs called MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are master regulators of gene expression among most eukaryotes. Those are derived from hairpin precursors (pre-miRNA) from which both miRNA and the imperfectly complementary miRNA strands are released. Plant miRNAs often closely match their target mRNAs and play an important role in plant development and patterning, either by targeting mRNA for cleavage or by inhibiting their translation. For this reason, a localized analysis of these molecules allows us to better understand their contributions to stress response and developmental processes. In this optic, the GAL4/UAS system or the Mimicry (MIMIC) technology are optimal strategies to achieve this goal. Here, we describe a protocol to combine the GAL4/UAS system and the Mimicry (MIMIC) technology.