Gene network modeling and pathway analysis of maize transcriptomes in response to Maize Iranian mosaic virus.

Maize Iranian mosaic virus (MIMV, family Rhabdoviridae) is one of the factors limiting cereal production in Iran. In the present study, we sought to find critical genes and key pathways involved in MIMV infection and analyzed gene networks, pathways and promoters using transcriptome data. We determined the hub genes involved in pathways related to the proteasome and ubiquitin. The results showed the important role of the cellular endoplasmic reticulum in MIMV infection. Network cluster analysis confirmed the result of GO and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. The discovered miRNAs belonged to miR166, miR167, miR169, miR395, miR399, miR408 and miR482 families, which are involved in various pathogenicity or resistance processes against MIMV or other viruses. The results of this study provide a list of hub genes, important pathways and new insights for the future development of virus-resistant transgenic crops and clarify the basic mechanism of plant response.