Conserved generation of short products at piRNA loci
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE26160 | GEO | 2011/03/07
SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA135279
REPOSITORIES: GEO
Similar Datasets
Project description:We analyzed small RNAs from three mammalian species, and found that in all these species piRNA-directed targeting is accompanied by the generation of short sequences that have a very precisely defined length and a specific spatial relationship with the guide piRNAs. small RNA-seq of testes lysate (beta-eliminated)
2011-03-07 | E-GEOD-26160 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:BACKGROUND: The piRNA pathway operates in animal germ lines to ensure genome integrity through retrotransposon silencing. The Piwi protein-associated small RNAs (piRNAs) guide Piwi proteins to retrotransposon transcripts, which are degraded and thereby post-transcriptionally silenced through a ping-pong amplification process. Cleavage of the retrotransposon transcript defines at the same time the 5' end of a secondary piRNA that will in turn guide a Piwi protein to a primary piRNA precursor, thereby amplifying primary piRNAs. Although several studies provided evidence that this mechanism is conserved among metazoa, how the process is initiated and what enzymatic activities are responsible for generating the primary and secondary piRNAs are not entirely clear. RESULTS: Here we analyzed small RNAs from three mammalian species, seeking to gain further insight into the mechanisms responsible for the piRNA amplification loop. We found that in all these species piRNA-directed targeting is accompanied by the generation of short sequences that have a very precisely defined length, 19 nucleotides, and a specific spatial relationship with the guide piRNAs. CONCLUSIONS: This suggests that the processing of the 5' product of piRNA-guided cleavage occurs while the piRNA target is engaged by the Piwi protein. Although they are not stabilized through methylation of their 3' ends, the 19-mers are abundant not only in testes lysates but also in immunoprecipitates of Miwi and Mili proteins. They will enable more accurate identification of piRNA loci in deep sequencing data sets.
| S-EPMC3037900 | biostudies-literature
Project description:PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are genomically-encoded small RNAs that regulate germ cell development and guarantee germline integrity. Mature piRNAs engage Piwi Argonaute proteins to silence complementary transcripts, including transposable elements and endogenous genes. To date, piRNA biogenesis mechanisms are still unclear. Here, we show that the RNA Polymerase II subunit RPB-9 is required to promote transcription elongation at piRNA loci. Through genetic and biochemical experiments, we demonstrate that rpb-9-mediated piRNA production is needed to repress two DNA transposon families and a subset of somatic genes in the C. elegans germline.
2020-12-07 | PXD018657 | Pride
Project description:PIWI-interacting small RNAs (piRNAs) protect the germline genome and are essential for fertility. Previously, we showed that ribosomes guide the biogenesis of piRNAs from long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) after translating the short open reading frames (ORFs) near their 5′ cap. It remained unclear, however, how ribosomes proceed downstream of ORFs and how piRNA precursors distinguish from other RNAs. It is thus important to test whether a short ORF length is required for substrate recognition for ribosome guided-piRNA biogenesis. Here, we characterized a poorly understood class of piRNAs that originate from the 3′ untranslated regions (3′UTRs) of protein coding genes in mice and chickens. We demonstrate that their precursors are full-length mRNAs and that post-termination 80S ribosomes guide piRNA production on 3′UTRs after translation of upstream long ORFs. Similar to non-sense mediated decay (NMD), piRNA biogenesis degrades mRNA right after pioneer rounds of translation and fine-tunes protein production from mRNAs. Interestingly, however, we found that NMD, along with other surveillance pathways for ribosome recycling are temporally sequestered during the pachytene stage to allow for robust piRNA production. Although 3′UTR piRNA precursor mRNAs code for distinct proteins in mice and chickens, they all harbor embedded transposable elements (TEs) and produce piRNAs that cleave TEs, suggesting that TE suppression, rather than the function of proteins, is the primary evolutionary force maintaining a subset of mRNAs as piRNA precursors. Altogether, we discover a function of the piRNA pathway in fine-tuning protein production and reveal a conserved, general piRNA biogenesis mechanism that recognizes translating RNAs regardless of their ORF length in amniotes.
2021-09-17 | PXD027489 | Pride
Project description:In Drosophila, Piwi proteins use guide piRNAs to repress selfish genomic elements, protecting the genomic integrity of gametes and ensuring the fertility of animal species. Efficient transposon repression depends on amplification of piRNA guides in the ping-pong cycle, which in Drosophila entails tight cooperation between two Piwi proteins, Aub and Ago3. Here we show that post-translational modification, symmetric dimethylarginine (sDMA), of Aub is essential for piRNA biogenesis, transposon silencing and fertility. Methylation is triggered by loading of a piRNA guide into Aub, which exposes its unstructured N-terminal region to the PRMT5 methylosome complex. Thus, sDMA modification is a signal that Aub is loaded with piRNA guide. Amplification of piRNA in the ping-pong cycle requires assembly of a tertiary complex scaffolded by Krimper, which simultaneously binds the N-terminal regions of Aub and Ago3. To promote generation of new piRNA, Krimp uses its two Tudor domains to bind Aub and Ago3 in opposite modification and piRNA-loading states. Our results reveal essential functions of post-translational modifications in unstructured regions of Piwi proteins and of Tudor domains capable of discriminating between modification states in piRNA biogenesis and silencing.
2020-06-25 | GSE153156 | GEO
Project description:PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs essential for animal germ cell development. Despite intense investigation of post-transcriptional processing, piRNA biogenesis at the chromatin level remains enigmatic. Here we document that BTBD18 is a pachytene nuclear protein in mouse testes that occupies intergenic pachytene piRNA-producing loci with remarkable genome-wide specificity. Deficiency of Btbd18 in mice results in disrupted piRNA biogenesis and male sterility. Transcriptome profiling, chromatin accessibility and RNA polymerase II occupancy demonstrate that BTBD18 facilitates expression of pachytene piRNA precursors by promoting transcription elongation. Therefore, we conclude that BTBD18 functionally licenses genomic sources of piRNAs for transcription activation in mice, and propose that piRNA precursor biogenesis is regulated by transcriptional elongation.
2017-01-05 | GSE81470 | GEO
Project description:In the fetal mouse testis, PIWI Interacting RNAs (piRNAs) guide PIWI proteins to silence transposons, but after birth, most post-pubertal pachytene piRNAs map to genome uniquely and are thought to regulate genes required for male fertility. In human males, the developmental classes, precise genomic origins, and transcriptional regulation of post-natal piRNAs remain undefined. Here, we demarcate the genes and transcripts that produce post-natal piRNAs in human juvenile and adult testes. As in mouse, A‑MYB in humans drives transcription of both pachytene piRNA precursor transcripts and the mRNAs encoding piRNA biogenesis factors. Although human piRNA genes are syntenic to those in other placental mammals, their sequences are poorly conserved. In fact, pachytene piRNA loci are rapidly diverging even among modern humans. Our findings suggest that during mammalian evolution, pachytene piRNA genes are under fewer selective constraints. We speculate that pachytene piRNA diversity may provide a hitherto unrecognized driver of reproductive isolation.
2019-12-23 | GSE135791 | GEO
Project description:In the male germ cells of eutherian animals, 26–30-nt-long PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) emerge when spermatocytes enter the pachytene phase of meiosis. These pachytene piRNAs derive from ~100 discrete autosomal loci resemble canonical protein-coding genes and long non-coding RNA-producing genes—they are transcribed by RNA polymerase II, bearing 5´ caps and 3´ poly(A) tails, and their transcripts often contain introns that are removed before nuclear export and processing into piRNAs. However, it is unclear which genic and epigenetic features distinguish pachytene piRNA genes from other types of genes and dictate their germline-specific expression. We report that an unusually long first exon (≥ 10 kb) or a long gene absent of introns altogether is highly correlated with both the germline-specific production of piRNA precursor transcripts from mouse pachytene piRNA loci. We also found that these precursor transcripts are enriched in the binding by THOC1 (also known as HPR1) and THOC2, subunits of the THO complex critical for transcription elongation and nuclear export of mRNAs. Our integrative analysis of transcriptome, piRNA, and epigenome datasets across multiple species reveals that a long first exon is an evolutionarily conserved feature of pachytene piRNA loci. We further found that a highly methylated promoter, often containing a low or intermediate level of CG dinucleotides, correlates with germline expression and somatic silencing of pachytene piRNA loci.
2020-10-24 | GSE147724 | GEO
Project description:PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), a class of small RNAs that guide transposon silencing in animals, are processed in the cytoplasm from RNA Polymerase II transcripts. How piRNA precursors, which often lack RNA maturation signatures and thereby violate quality control checkpoints, achieve nuclear export is unknown. Here, we uncover a germline-specific RNA export pathway in Drosophila, that escorts piRNA precursors from their heterochromatic origins to nuage, the cytoplasmic piRNA processing centres. This pathway connects canonical nuclear export factors—the RNA helicase UAP56, the NXF cofactor Nxt1/p15, and the exportin Crm1/Xpo1—with Nxf3, a variant of the mRNA exporter Nxf1/Tap. Nxf3 recruitment to nascent piRNA precursors occurs via the heterochromatin protein 1-variant Rhino and CG13741/Bootlegger, a new piRNA pathway factor, thereby making piRNA precursor export independent of RNA processing events. Thus, similar to retroviral hijacking of cellular export factors, piRNA precursor export evolved to bend canonical gene expression rules through bypassing nuclear RNA surveillance mechanisms.
2019-03-29 | PXD012717 | Pride
Project description:The PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA) pathway plays a crucial role in preventing endogenous genomic parasites, transposable elements (TEs), from damaging the genetic material of animal gonadal cells. Specific regions in the genome, called piRNA clusters, define each species’ piRNA repertoire and therefore its capacity to recognize and silence transposons. In the somatic cells of the Drosophila melanogaster ovary, the flamenco (flam) unistrand cluster is the main source of piRNAs and primarily regulates Gypsy family TEs that are able to form virus-like particles and infect neighbouring germ cells. Disruption of the flam locus or failure to process flam precursor transcripts into piRNAs results in sterility, yet it remains unknown whether this silencing mechanism is employed widely across Drosophilidae. Here, using both synteny-based analyses and de novo TE annotation, we identify candidate loci sharing both their organisation and TE targeting repertoire with flam in widely divergent Drosophila species groups. Small RNA-sequencing validated these loci as bona-fide unistrand piRNA clusters and revealed their predominant expression in somatic cells of the ovary, likely to counter TE mobilisation in this tissue. This study provides compelling evidence of co-evolution between virus-like Gypsy family transposons and a host defence mechanism in form of soma-expressed, unistrand piRNA clusters.
2023-09-26 | GSE225887 | GEO