zma-miR169i-5p: Zma-mir169i-5p is a specific type of maize miRNA that has been implicated in maize induced systemic resistance (ISR) primed by Trichoderma harzianum T28 [PMC9964586]. In a study conducted by Xie et al., it was found that the expression level of zma-mir169i-5p decreased, while its target genes, NF-YA (Zm00001d018255 and Zm00001d027874), were upregulated in B73 + T28 post-inoculated with Cochliobolus heterostrophus, which is consistent with the findings of the study [PMC9964586]. Other miRNAs, such as miR825/miR825*, miR472, and miR846, as well as zma-miR169a-5p and zma-miR395b-5p, have also been reported to regulate ISR activated by different Bacillus spp., which are well-known beneficial microbial agents [PMC9964586]. In order to evaluate the roles of maize miRNAs in ISR, zma-miR169a-5p, zma-miR169c-5p, zma-mir169i-5p, and zma-miR395b-5p were selected as candidate ISR-associated miRNAs [PMC6829523]. Among these candidate ISR-associated miRNAs specifically repressed in FZB42 treatment were zma-mir169i-5p and three others [PMC6829523]. Zma-mir169i-5p was found to target 42 mRNAs while no target mRNA was identified for zma-miR395b-5p through degradome sequencing [PMC6829523]. A network was constructed to illustrate the relationship between three ISR-associated miRNAs (zma-miR169a-5p, zma-miR169c-5p, and zma-mir169i-5p) and their target mRNAs [PMC6829523]. Additionally, zma-mir169i-5p was one of the four miRNAs specifically depressed in FZB42 treatment, making it a candidate ISR-associated miRNA [PMC8839143].