Project description:MicroRNAs comprise 1-3% of all vertebrate genes, but their in vivo functions and mechanisms of action remain largely unknown. Zebrafish miR-430 is expressed at the onset of zygotic transcription and regulates morphogenesis during early development. Using a microarray approach and in vivo target validation, we find that miR-430 directly regulates several hundred target mRNAs. Targets are highly enriched for maternal mRNAs that accumulate in the absence of miR-430. We also show that miR-430 accelerates the deadenylation of target mRNAs. These results suggest that miR-430 facilitates the deadenylation and clearance of maternal mRNAs during early embryogenesis. Keywords: Dicer, MZdicer, miR-430, miRNA target, maternal, zygotic
Project description:MicroRNAs comprise 1-3% of all vertebrate genes, but their in vivo functions and mechanisms of action remain largely unknown. Zebrafish miR-430 is expressed at the onset of zygotic transcription and regulates morphogenesis during early development. Using a microarray approach and in vivo target validation, we find that miR-430 directly regulates several hundred target mRNAs. Targets are highly enriched for maternal mRNAs that accumulate in the absence of miR-430. We also show that miR-430 accelerates the deadenylation of target mRNAs. These results suggest that miR-430 facilitates the deadenylation and clearance of maternal mRNAs during early embryogenesis. Experiment Overall Design: As a first step towards the identification of miR-430 targets, we compared the rate of mRNA degradation in wild type and maternal-zygotic (MZ) dicer mutant embryos, which are deficient in miRNA processing. We found that the rate of degradation of a target mRNA with partial complementarity to miR-430 is significantly reduced in MZdicer mutants. Providing miR-430 duplexes to MZdicer mutants restores the rate of target decay. These results indicate that miR-430 enhances the decay of target mRNAs. Experiment Overall Design: To identify miR-430 in vivo targets, we compared the mRNA expression profile of embryos that were wild-type, MZdicer, or MZdicer rescued with miR-430 (MZdicer+miR-430). This analysis identified ~600 genes that were upregulated in MZdicer, but not in MZdicer+miR-430. Experiment Overall Design: We have also analyzed the expression profile of the genes in the array at three different time points, one maternal stage(16 cell), and two Zygotic stages 5 hours and 9 hours
Project description:Upon fertilization, maternal factors direct development in a transcriptionally silent embryo. At the maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT), a universal step in animal development, unknown maternal factors trigger zygotic genome activation (ZGA). In zebrafish, ZGA is required for gastrulation and clearance of maternal mRNAs, which is achieved in part by the conserved microRNA miR-430. However, the precise factors that activate the zygotic program remain largely unknown. Here we show that Nanog, Pou5f1 and SoxB1 are required for genome activation in zebrafish. We identified several hundred genes directly activated by maternal factors, thus constituting the first wave of zygotic transcription in zebrafish. Ribosome profiling in the pre-MZT embryo revealed that nanog, sox19b and pou5f1 are the most highly translated transcription factor mRNAs. Combined loss of function for Nanog, SoxB1 and Pou5f1 resulted in developmental arrest prior to gastrulation, and a failure to activate >75% of zygotic genes. Furthermore, we found that Nanog binds the miR-430 locus and together with Pou5f1 and SoxB1 initiate miR-430 expression and activity. Our results demonstrate that maternal Nanog, Pou5f1 and SoxB1 are required to initiate the zygotic developmental program and in turn trigger the clearance of the maternal program by activating miR-430 expression.
Project description:Upon fertilization, maternal factors direct development in a transcriptionally silent embryo. At the maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT), a universal step in animal development, unknown maternal factors trigger zygotic genome activation (ZGA). In zebrafish, ZGA is required for gastrulation and clearance of maternal mRNAs, which is achieved in part by the conserved microRNA miR-430. However, the precise factors that activate the zygotic program remain largely unknown. Here we show that Nanog, Pou5f1 and SoxB1 are required for genome activation in zebrafish. We identified several hundred genes directly activated by maternal factors, thus constituting the first wave of zygotic transcription in zebrafish. Ribosome profiling in the pre-MZT embryo revealed that nanog, sox19b and pou5f1 are the most highly translated transcription factor mRNAs. Combined loss of function for Nanog, SoxB1 and Pou5f1 resulted in developmental arrest prior to gastrulation, and a failure to activate >75% of zygotic genes. Furthermore, we found that Nanog binds the miR-430 locus and together with Pou5f1 and SoxB1 initiate miR-430 expression and activity. Our results demonstrate that maternal Nanog, Pou5f1 and SoxB1 are required to initiate the zygotic developmental program and in turn trigger the clearance of the maternal program by activating miR-430 expression. Wild type and loss-of-function total mRNA sequencing of embryonic transcriptomes pre- and post-MZT; ribosome profiling pre-MZT
Project description:The control of mRNA stability plays a central role in regulating gene expression. In metazoans, the earliest stages of development are driven by maternally supplied mRNAs. The degradation of these maternal mRNAs is critical for promoting the maternal-to-zygotic transition of developmental programs, although the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood in vertebrates. Here, we characterized maternal mRNA degradation pathways in zebrafish using a transcriptome analysis and systematic reporter assays. Our data demonstrate that ORFs enriched with uncommon codons promote deadenylation by the CCR4-NOT complex in a translation-dependent manner. This codon-mediated mRNA decay is conditional on the context of the 3â² UTR, with long 3â² UTRs conferring resistance to deadenylation. These results indicate that the combined effect of codon usage and 3â² UTR length determines the stability of maternal mRNAs in zebrafish embryos. Our study thus highlights the codon-mediated mRNA decay as a conserved regulatory mechanism in eukaryotes. zebrafish embryonic mRNA profile at 2 different stages (2 hpf and 6 hpf) in wildtype and 3 additional conditions (miR-430 inhibition, RNApol II inhibition and CNOT7 inhibition) at 6 hpf. All experiments are performed as triplicates
Project description:MicroRNAs regulate gene expression through deadenylation, repression and mRNA decay. However, the contribution of each mechanism in non-steady-state situations remains unclear. We monitored the impact of miR-430 on ribosome occupancy of endogenous mRNAs in wild type and dicer mutants lacking mature miR-430. Our results indicate that miR-430 reduces the number of ribosomes on target mRNAs before causing mRNA decay. Translational repression occurs before complete deadenylation, and disrupting deadenylation using an internal poly(A) tail did not block target repression. Finally, we observe that ribosome density along the length of the target mRNA remains constant, suggesting that translational repression occurs by reducing the initiation rate rather than reducing elongation or causing ribosomal drop-off. In summary, our results show that miR-430 regulates translation initiation before inducing mRNA decay.
Project description:Early embryonic development depends on proper utilization and clearance of maternal transcriptomes. How these processes are spatiotemporally regulated remains unclear. Here we show that nuclear RNA-binding protein Rbm14 and maternal mRNAs co-phase separate into cytoplasmic condensates to facilitate vertebrate blastula-to-gastrula development. In zebrafish, Rbm14 condensates were highly abundant in blastomeres and markedly reduced after prominent activation of zygotic transcription. They concentrated at spindle poles by associating with centrosomal -tubulin puncta and displayed mainly asymmetric divisions with a global symmetry across embryonic midline in 8-cell and 16-cell embryos. Their formation was dose-dependently stimulated by m6A, but repressed by m5C modification of the maternal mRNA. Furthermore, deadenylase Parn co-phase separated with these condensates, and this was required for deadenylation of the mRNAs in early blastomeres. Depletion of Rbm14 impaired embryonic cell differentiations and full activations of the zygotic genome in both zebrafish and mouse and resulted in developmental arrest at the blastula stage. Our results suggest that cytoplasmic Rbm14 condensate formation regulates early embryogenesis by facilitating deadenylation, protection, and mitotic allocation of m6A-modified maternal mRNAs, and by releasing the poly(A)-less transcripts upon regulated disassembly to allow their re-polyadenylation and translation or clearance.
Project description:MicroRNAs regulate gene expression through deadenylation, repression and mRNA decay. However, the contribution of each mechanism in non-steady-state situations remains unclear. We monitored the impact of miR-430 on ribosome occupancy of endogenous mRNAs in wild type and dicer mutants lacking mature miR-430. Our results indicate that miR-430 reduces the number of ribosomes on target mRNAs before causing mRNA decay. Translational repression occurs before complete deadenylation, and disrupting deadenylation using an internal poly(A) tail did not block target repression. Finally, we observe that ribosome density along the length of the target mRNA remains constant, suggesting that translational repression occurs by reducing the initiation rate rather than reducing elongation or causing ribosomal drop-off. In summary, our results show that miR-430 regulates translation initiation before inducing mRNA decay. Time course parallel ribosome profiling and input mRNA quantification in wildtype and MZdicer mutant embryos