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Paternal RNA contributions in the Caenorhabditis elegans zygote.

ABSTRACT: Development of the early embryo is thought to be mainly driven by maternal gene products and post-transcriptional gene regulation. Here, we used metabolic labeling to show that RNA can be transferred by sperm into the oocyte upon fertilization. To identify genes with paternal expression in the embryo, we performed crosses of males and females from divergent Caenorhabditis elegans strains. RNA sequencing of mRNAs and small RNAs in the 1-cell hybrid embryo revealed that about one hundred sixty paternal mRNAs are reproducibly expressed in the embryo and that about half of all assayed endogenous siRNAs and piRNAs are also of paternal origin. Together, our results suggest an unexplored paternal contribution to early development.

SUBMITTER: Stoeckius M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4195758 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Paternal RNA contributions in the Caenorhabditis elegans zygote.

Stoeckius Marlon M Grün Dominic D Rajewsky Nikolaus N

The EMBO journal 20140603 16

Development of the early embryo is thought to be mainly driven by maternal gene products and post-transcriptional gene regulation. Here, we used metabolic labeling to show that RNA can be transferred by sperm into the oocyte upon fertilization. To identify genes with paternal expression in the embryo, we performed crosses of males and females from divergent Caenorhabditis elegans strains. RNA sequencing of mRNAs and small RNAs in the 1-cell hybrid embryo revealed that about one hundred sixty pat ...[more]

PMID: 24894551

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Paternal RNA contributions in the C. elegans zygote

Project description:Development of the early embryo is thought to be mainly driven by maternal gene products and post-transcriptional gene regulation. Here, we used metabolic labeling to show that RNA can be transferred by sperm into the embryo. To identify genes with paternal expression in the embryo, we performed crosses of males and females from divergent C. elegans strains. RNA sequencing of mRNAs and small RNAs in the 1-cell hybrid embryo revealed that about two hundred paternal mRNAs are reproducibly expressed in the embryo, and that about half of assayed endogenous siRNAs and piRNAs are also of paternal origin. Together, our results suggest an unexplored paternal contribution to early development. To reveal the identity of paternal RNA molecules, we performed a cross of males and females from two divergent C. elegans strains because we reasoned that sequencing of embryonic RNA and SNP analysis should then identify and quantify maternal and paternal transcripts. These sequencing experiments were carried out in purified hybrid 1-cell embryos and comprised small RNAs and mRNAs. For comparison we sequenced mRNAs and small RNAs from the parental strains: paternal (Hawaiian males, CB4856) and maternal (fem-1(hc17ts)/TX189(OMA-1::GFP). For the annotation of strain specific mutations (SNPs) we sequenced mRNA and small RNAs extracted from whole worms. All experiments were performed in at least two independent biological replicates.

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Paternal RNA contributions in the C. elegans zygote

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Project description:Cell polarity is characterized by the asymmetric distribution of factors at the cell cortex and in the cytoplasm. Although mechanisms that establish cortical asymmetries have been characterized, less is known about how persistent cytoplasmic asymmetries are generated. During the asymmetric division of the Caenorhabditis elegans zygote, the PAR proteins orchestrate the segregation of the cytoplasmic RNA-binding proteins MEX-5/6 to the anterior cytoplasm and PIE-1, POS-1, and MEX-1 to the posterior cytoplasm. In this study, we find that MEX-5/6 control the segregation of GFP::PIE-1, GFP::POS-1, and GFP::MEX-1 by locally increasing their mobility in the anterior cytoplasm. Remarkably, PIE-1, POS-1, and MEX-1 form gradients with distinct strengths, which correlates with differences in their responsiveness to MEX-5/6. We show that MEX-5/6 act downstream of the polarity regulators PAR-1 and PAR-3 and in a concentration-dependent manner to increase the mobility of GFP::PIE-1. These findings suggest that the MEX-5/6 concentration gradients are directly coupled to the establishment of posterior-rich PIE-1, POS-1, and MEX-1 concentration gradients via the formation of anterior-fast, posterior-slow mobility gradients.

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