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PIWI slicing and EXD1 drive biogenesis of nuclear piRNAs from cytosolic targets of the mouse piRNA pathway

ABSTRACT: PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) guide PIWI proteins to suppress transposable elements in animal gonads. Here we demonstrate that in the mouse embryonic male germline, endonucleolytic cleavage (slicing) of a transcript by cytosolic MILI acts as a trigger to initiate its further 5??3? processing into non-overlapping fragments. These fragments accumulate as new piRNAs within the nuclear PIWI protein MIWI2. We identify Exonuclease domain-containing 1 (EXD1) as a partner of the established MIWI2 piRNA biogenesis factor TDRD12. Although EXD1 homodimers are inactive as a nuclease, it functions as an RNA adapter within a PET (PIWI-EXD1-Tdrd12) complex. Loss of Exd1 impacts biogenesis of MIWI2 piRNAs and displays a reduction in sequences generated by MILI slicing. This results in selective depletion of repeat piRNAs that target active retrotransposons like LINE1, which are de-repressed in the mutant. We propose that PIWI slicing and EXD1 promote coordination of nucleo-cytoplasmic silencing via piRNA biogenesis.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE74423 | GEO | 2015/12/04

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA300375

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:PIWI-clade Argonaute proteins silence transposon expression in animal gonads. Their target specificity is defined by bound ~23-30nt piRNAs that are processed from single-stranded precursor transcripts via two distinct pathways. Primary piRNAs are defined by the endo-nuclease Zucchini, while biogenesis of secondary piRNAs depends on piRNA-guided transcript cleavage and results in piRNA amplification. Here, we analyze the inter-dependencies between these piRNA biogenesis pathways in the developing Drosophila ovary. We show that secondary piRNA-guided target slicing is the predominant mechanism that specifies transcripts—including those from piRNA clusters—as primary piRNA precursors and that defines the spectrum of Piwi-bound piRNAs in germline cells. Post-transcriptional silencing in the cytoplasm therefore enforces nuclear, transcriptional target silencing, which ensures the tight suppression of transposons during oogenesis. As target slicing also defines the nuclear piRNA pool during mouse spermatogenesis, our findings uncover an unexpected conceptual similarity between the mouse and fly piRNA pathways. To understand the hierarchical order of primary versus secondary piRNA biogenesis in Drosophila ovaries, we sequenced piRNAs bound to total-Piwi, germline-Piwi, Aubergine and Argonaute3 from ovaries of germline specific knockdowns of control, piwi, aub, ago3 single knockdowns and aub/ago3 double knockdowns. To determine changes in Transposable Element (TE) transcription or TE RNA steady state in perturbed piRNA pathway conditions, we performed Pol2-ChIP-sequencing and polyA bound RNA-sequencing from ovaries of multiple germline knockdown genotypes. We also sequenced genomic DNA from ovaries of control knockdowns to experimentally estimate the TE copy number in our genetic background. Finally, we used CAP-seq from germline specific Piwi depletions to identify the Transcriptional Start Sites (TSS) in TEs in a deregulated background. Replicates are labeled with R1, R2, R3, R4 where indicated.

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PIWI slicing and EXD1 drive biogenesis of nuclear piRNAs from cytosolic targets of the mouse piRNA pathway

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