PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Patricia L.M. Lang AU - Michael D. Christie AU - Ezgi Dogan AU - Rebecca Schwab AU - Jörg Hagmann AU - Anna-Lena Van de Weyer AU - Detlef Weigel TI - A role for the F-box protein HAWAIIAN SKIRT in plant miRNA function AID - 10.1101/123703 DP - 2017 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 123703 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/04/03/123703.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/04/03/123703.full AB - As regulators of gene expression in multicellular organisms, microRNAs (miRNAs) are crucial for growth and development. While a plethora of factors involved in their biogenesis and action in Arabidopsis thaliana have been described, these processes and their fine-tuning are not fully understood in plants. Here, we used plants expressing an artificial miRNA target mimic (MIM) to screen for negative regulators of miR156 activity. We identified a new mutant allele of the F-box protein HAWAIIAN SKIRT (HWS; At3G61590), hws-5, as a suppressor of the MIM156-induced developmental and molecular phenotypes. In hws plants, levels of endogenous miRNAs are increased and their mRNA targets decreased. Plants constitutively expressing full-length HWS - but not a truncated version lacking the F-box domain - display morphological and molecular phenotypes resembling those of mutants defective in miRNA biogenesis and activity. In combination with such mutants, hws loses its delayed floral organ abscission (‘skirt’) phenotype, suggesting epistasis. Also, the overall hws transcriptome profile partially resembles well-known miRNA mutants hyl1-2 and se-3, indicating action in a common pathway. We thus propose HWS as a novel, F-box dependent regulator of miRNA biogenesis.Summary statement HAWAIIAN SKIRT is a regulator of Arabidopsis thaliana microRNA biogenesis and acts in an F-box-dependent manner.