Project description:Small RNA sequencing was performed to determine the accumulation of endogenous siRNAs in wildtype and chr11 chr17 double mutant plants in response to TCV.
Project description:We examined the biogenesis of mRNA-derived endogenous short-interfering RNAs (endo-siRNAs) in the disease vector mosquito, Aedes aegypti. Under standard conditions, mRNA-derived endo-siRNAs were produced from the bidirectional transcription of tail-tail overlapping gene pairs. Upon infection with the alphavirus, Sindbis virus (SINV), another class of mRNA-derived endo-siRNAs was observed. Genes producing SINV-induced endo-siRNAs were not enriched for overlapping partners or nearby genes, but were enriched for transcripts with long 3'UTRs. Endo-siRNAs from this class derived uniformly from the entire length of the target transcript, and were found to regulate the transcript levels of the genes from which they were derived. Strand-specific qPCR experiments demonstrated that antisense strands of targeted mRNA genes were produced to exonic, but not intronic regions. Finally, small RNAs mapped to both sense and antisense strands of exon-exon junctions, suggesting double-stranded RNA precursors to SINV-induced endo-siRNAs may be synthesized from mature mRNA templates. These results suggest additional complexity in small RNA pathways and gene regulation in the presence of an infecting virus in disease vector mosquitoes. Examination of endo-siRNA production in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes
Project description:Background: Cytoplasmic degradation of endogenous RNAs is an integral part of RNA quality control (RQC) and often relies on the removal of the 5' cap structure and their subsequent 5M-bM-^@M-^Y to 3M-bM-^@M-^Y degradation. In parallel, many eukaryotes degrade exogenous and selected endogenous RNAs through post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS). In plants, PTGS depends on small interfering (si)RNAs produced after the conversion of single-stranded RNAs to double-stranded RNAs by the cellular RNA DEPENDENT RNA POLYMERASE 6 (RDR6). PTGS and RQC compete for transgene-derived RNAs, but it is unknown whether this competition also occurs for endogenous transcripts. Results: We show that that upon decapping impairment hundreds of endogenous mRNAs give rise to a new class of siRNAs, a subset of which depends on RDR6 for their production. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the decapping of aberrant endogenous RNA in P-bodies limits their entry into the PTGS pathway and prevents the subsequent deleterious consequences arising from this entry. We anticipate that the siRNAs identified in decapping mutants represent a subset of a larger ensemble of endogenous siRNAs that we coin rqc-siRNAs because they accumulate when RQC processes are impaired. Small RNA-seq experiments performed in duplicates for each condition.
Project description:We examined the biogenesis of mRNA-derived endogenous short-interfering RNAs (endo-siRNAs) in the disease vector mosquito, Aedes aegypti. Under standard conditions, mRNA-derived endo-siRNAs were produced from the bidirectional transcription of tail-tail overlapping gene pairs. Upon infection with the alphavirus, Sindbis virus (SINV), another class of mRNA-derived endo-siRNAs was observed. Genes producing SINV-induced endo-siRNAs were not enriched for overlapping partners or nearby genes, but were enriched for transcripts with long 3'UTRs. Endo-siRNAs from this class derived uniformly from the entire length of the target transcript, and were found to regulate the transcript levels of the genes from which they were derived. Strand-specific qPCR experiments demonstrated that antisense strands of targeted mRNA genes were produced to exonic, but not intronic regions. Finally, small RNAs mapped to both sense and antisense strands of exon-exon junctions, suggesting double-stranded RNA precursors to SINV-induced endo-siRNAs may be synthesized from mature mRNA templates. These results suggest additional complexity in small RNA pathways and gene regulation in the presence of an infecting virus in disease vector mosquitoes.
Project description:Background: Cytoplasmic degradation of endogenous RNAs is an integral part of RNA quality control (RQC) and often relies on the removal of the 5' cap structure and their subsequent 5’ to 3’ degradation. In parallel, many eukaryotes degrade exogenous and selected endogenous RNAs through post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS). In plants, PTGS depends on small interfering (si)RNAs produced after the conversion of single-stranded RNAs to double-stranded RNAs by the cellular RNA DEPENDENT RNA POLYMERASE 6 (RDR6). PTGS and RQC compete for transgene-derived RNAs, but it is unknown whether this competition also occurs for endogenous transcripts. Results: We show that that upon decapping impairment hundreds of endogenous mRNAs give rise to a new class of siRNAs, a subset of which depends on RDR6 for their production. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the decapping of aberrant endogenous RNA in P-bodies limits their entry into the PTGS pathway and prevents the subsequent deleterious consequences arising from this entry. We anticipate that the siRNAs identified in decapping mutants represent a subset of a larger ensemble of endogenous siRNAs that we coin rqc-siRNAs because they accumulate when RQC processes are impaired.
Project description:Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) direct RNA interference (RNAi) in eukaryotes. In flies, somatic cells produce siRNAs from exogenous double-stranded RNA as a defense against viral infection. Here, we identify 21-nt long, endogenous siRNAs (endo-siRNAs) corresponding to transposons and heterochromatic sequences in the somatic cells of Drosophila melanogaster. We also detected endo-siRNAs complementary to mRNAs: these siRNAs disproportionately mapped to the complementary regions of overlapping mRNAs predicted to form dsRNA in vivo. Normal accumulation of somatic endo-siRNAs requires the siRNA-generating ribonuclease, Dicer-2, and the RNAi effector protein, Ago2. We propose that endo-siRNAs generated by the fly RNAi pathway silence selfish genetic elements in the soma much as piRNAs do in the germ line. Keywords: Small RNA detection and quantification.
Project description:ABSTRACT: Exposure to abiotic stresses triggers global changes in the expression of thousands of eukaryotic genes at the transcriptional 70 and post-transcriptional levels. Small RNA (smRNA) pathways and splicing both function as crucial mechanisms regulating stress-responsive gene expression. However, examples of smRNAs regulating gene expression remain largely limited to effects on mRNA stability, translation, and epigenetic regulation. Also, our understanding of the networks controlling plant gene expression in response to environmental changes, and examples of these regulatory pathways intersecting, remains limited. Here, to investigate the role of smRNAs in stress responses we examined smRNA transcriptomes of Brachypodium distachyon plants subjected to various abiotic stresses. We found that exposure to different abiotic stresses specifically induced a group 75 of novel, endogenous small interfering RNAs (stress-induced, UTR-derived siRNAs, or sutr-siRNAs) that originate from the 3′ UTRs of a subset of coding genes. Our bioinformatics analyses predicted that sutr-siRNAs have potential regulatory functions and that over 90% of sutr-siRNAs target intronic regions of many mRNAs in trans. Importantly, a subgroup of these sutr- siRNAs target the important intron regulatory regions, such as branch point sequences, that could affect splicing. Our study indicates that in Brachypodium, sutr-siRNAs may affect splicing by masking or changing accessibility of specific cis-elements 80 through base-pairing interactions to mediate gene expression in response to stresses. We hypothesize that this mode of regulation of gene expression may also serve as a general mechanism for regulation of gene expression in plants and potentially in other eukaryotes.
Project description:Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) was implicated as the site of microRNA (miRNA)-mediated translational repression in plants. Here, we examined the ER- and rough ER- associated small RNAome, transcriptome and translatome. We found that nearly all cellular transcripts were present on membrane-bound polysomes (MBPs), and miRNAs and a small set of endogenous siRNAs were particularly enriched on MBPs. The MBP- enriched miRNAs and siRNAs associated with, and were recruited to membranes by, their effector protein ARGONAUTE1 (AGO1). AGO1 associated with ER in a partly RNA-independent manner. Reduced membrane association of 22-nt miRNAs, which trigger the biogenesis of phased, secondary siRNAs (phasiRNAs) from their target transcripts, was accompanied by decreased production or loss of phasing of phasiRNAs. The phasiRNA precursor transcripts, previously thought to be noncoding, were associated with MBPs in a manner that supported phasiRNA production. These findings point to the ER as a hub that hosts and organizes endogenous small RNAs in plants.
Project description:We analyzed the C. elegans small RNA response to high copy transgene sequences expressed in the soma in a wild type and an eri-6/7 mutant background. We also analyzed small RNA defects in the arl-8(tm2472) mutant. Transgene siRNAs are 22 nt long, mostly antisense, and correspond to the promoter, coding regions, the 3'UTR and plamsid sequences present on the transgene. Transgene siRNAs are decreased in the eri-6/7 mutant. In the arl-8 mutant, 26G siRNAs in the ALG-3/4 dependent endogenous RNAi pathway are decreased.
Project description:We analyzed the C. elegans small RNA response to high copy transgene sequences expressed in the soma in a wild type and an eri-6/7 mutant background. We also analyzed small RNA defects in the arl-8(tm2472) mutant. Transgene siRNAs are 22 nt long, mostly antisense, and correspond to the promoter, coding regions, the 3'UTR and plamsid sequences present on the transgene. Transgene siRNAs are decreased in the eri-6/7 mutant. In the arl-8 mutant, 26G siRNAs in the ALG-3/4 dependent endogenous RNAi pathway are decreased. Sequencing small RNAs from C. elegans transgenic strains and mutants.