 This study aimed to identify new micro-RNAs, merners, in soybean that are regulated by water deficit and rust stress. Eight small RNA libraries were constructed from drought-sensitive and tolerant seedlings, as well as rust-susceptible and resistant soybeans with or without stressors. Solexa sequencing was used to detect 256 merners, including 24 families of novel merners, six families of conserved merners, and 22 families previously reported in soybean. RTQPCR was performed to validate the expression profiles of 11 merners across all eight libraries. The results showed that most merners were upregulated during water deficit stress in sensitive plants, while most were downregulated in tolerant genotypes. In contrast, most merners were downregulated during rust attack in a susceptible genotype, but not in a resistant genotype. A prediction of petitive targets was carried out for conserved and novel merner families. The study provides molecular evidence for the possible involvement of merners in water deficit and rust stress responses in soybean. This article was authored by Nassimento Leandro Si, Abdelna Riccardo Vi, Mosalina Gamores Francis Marci, and others. We are article.tv, links in the description below.