Preface; Plant Epigenetics: From Genotype to Phenotype; Contents; Conservation, Divergence, and Abundance of MiRNAs and Their Effect in Plants; 1 Introduction; 2 General Aspects of MiRNAs; 3 Biogenesis and Action of MiRNAs; 4 Classification, Conservation, Divergence, and Abundance of MiRNAs in Plants; 5 MiRNA Functions in Plants; 6 Pleiotropic Effects of MiRNAs; 7 Conclusions and Future Prospects; References; The Role of MiRNAs in Auxin Signaling and Regulation During Plant Development; 1 Introduction; 1.1 Auxins; 1.2 MiRNAs; 2 Biogenesis and Function of MiRNAs in Plants

3 Evolution of Plant MicroRNA Genes4 Gene Regulation by MicroRNAs in Plants; 5 MiRNAs in Auxins Signaling and Homeostasis; 5.1 Auxin Homeostasis and MiRNAs; 5.2 Auxin Signaling and MiRNAs; 6 Role of MiRNA in Plant Growth and Development Mediated by Auxins; 7 Concluding Remarks; References; Growing Diversity of Plant MicroRNAs and MIR-Derived Small RNAs; 1 Introduction; 2 Micro RNAs in the Plant Small RNA World; 3 MiRNA-Mediated DNA Methylation; 3.1 First Evidences for an Indirect Link Between MiRNAs and DNA Methylation; 3.2 MIR-Derived sRNAs: The Real Players in MiRNA-Mediated DNA Methylation

4 Epigenetic Control of MIR Genes4.1 Impact of Histone Modifications of MIR Loci on MiRNA Expression; 4.2 DNA Methylation of MIR Genes Affects MiRNA Expression; 4.3 Link Between MIR Gene DNA Methylation and Plant Stress Response; 5 Computational Tools for Plant MiRNA Analysis from NGS Datasets; References; An Evolutionary View of the Biogenesis and Function of Rice Small RNAs; 1 Introduction; 2 Evolution of Core RNA Interference (RNAi) Pathway Genes in Rice; 2.1 Dicer-Like; 2.2 RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerases; 2.3 Hua Enhancer 1; 2.4 Argonaute; 3 Evolution of Rice Small RNAs and Their Targets

3.1 Canonical miRNAs3.1.1 Evolution of miRNAs in AA Genome Oryza Species; 3.1.2 MiRNA Genes Under Positive Selection in Cultivated Rice; 3.1.3 MiRNA Targets Under Positive Selection in Cultivated Rice; 3.2 Long miRNAs; 3.3 Phased siRNAs; 3.4 Heterochromatic siRNAs; 4 Conclusions and Future Prospects; References; Small RNAs: Master Regulators of Epigenetic Silencing in Plants; 1 Introduction; 2 Nuclear sRNA-Dependent Gene Silencing; 3 Small RNA-Directed DNA Methylation in Plants; 4 Mechanism of Transposon Repression by sRNAs and Silencing of Transposons; 5 Conclusion and Future Perspectives