The field of the present disclosure relates to plant molecular biology and, inparticular,to constructs and methods to down-regulate the expression of target genes.Described herein are isolated nucleic acid fragments encoding artificialmiRNAs andtheir use in down-regulating gene expression. In one aspect of the presentdisclosure, an artificial miRNA precursor is achieved by modifying thedeoxyribonucleotide sequence that encodes a soybean miRNA precursor. In thisaspect, the miRNA and star sequences of the miRNA precursor are replaced withvariable nucleotide subsequences designed to down-regulate the expression of atarget gene. In another aspect of the present disclosure, a plant cell istransformedwith a nucleic acid construct comprising a nucleic acid fragment that encodesanartificial miRNA precursor for reducing the expression of a target gene.
