Project description:Germ cells employ elaborate mechanisms to maintain and protect their genetic material, and also to regulate gene expression during the complex differentiation process of gametogenesis. Piwi proteins, a subclade of the Argonaute family, are expressed mainly in the germline and bind piRNAs, a novel and diverse class of small RNAs whose biogenesis and putative functions are still largely elusive. We employed High Throughput Sequencing after Crosslinking and Immunoprecipitation (HITS-CLIP) coupled with RNA-Seq to characterize the genome-wide target RNA repertoire of Mili and Miwi, two mouse Piwi proteins. Our analysis outlines a model for primary piRNA biogenesis in postnatal mouse and indicates that piRNAs do not mediate target RNA recognition, but rather are the end products of RNA processing. Moreover, we identify a set of mRNAs essential for spermiogenesis that are bound and regulated by Miwi, directly implicating Piwi proteins in the control of gene expression at key time points of spermiogenesis. HITS-CLIP (High Throughput Sequencing after Crosslinking and Immunoprecipitation) experiments targeting two mouse Piwi proteins Mili and Miwi.
Project description:Germ cells employ elaborate mechanisms to maintain and protect their genetic material, and also to regulate gene expression during the complex differentiation process of gametogenesis. Piwi proteins, a subclade of the Argonaute family, are expressed mainly in the germline and bind piRNAs, a novel and diverse class of small RNAs whose biogenesis and putative functions are still largely elusive. We employed High Throughput Sequencing after Crosslinking and Immunoprecipitation (HITS-CLIP) coupled with RNA-Seq to characterize the genome-wide target RNA repertoire of Mili and Miwi, two mouse Piwi proteins. Our analysis outlines a model for primary piRNA biogenesis in postnatal mouse and indicates that piRNAs do not mediate target RNA recognition, but rather are the end products of RNA processing. Moreover, we identify a set of mRNAs essential for spermiogenesis that are bound and regulated by Miwi, directly implicating Piwi proteins in the control of gene expression at key time points of spermiogenesis.
Project description:Germ cells employ elaborate mechanisms to maintain and protect their genetic material, and also to regulate gene expression during the complex differentiation process of gametogenesis. Piwi proteins, a subclade of the Argonaute family, are expressed mainly in the germline and bind piRNAs, a novel and diverse class of small RNAs whose biogenesis and putative functions are still largely elusive. We employed High Throughput Sequencing after Crosslinking and Immunoprecipitation (HITS-CLIP) coupled with RNA-Seq to characterize the genome-wide target RNA repertoire of Mili and Miwi, two mouse Piwi proteins. Our analysis outlines a model for primary piRNA biogenesis in postnatal mouse and indicates that piRNAs do not mediate target RNA recognition, but rather are the end products of RNA processing. Moreover, we identify a set of mRNAs essential for spermiogenesis that are bound and regulated by Miwi, directly implicating Piwi proteins in the control of gene expression at key time points of spermiogenesis.
Project description:Purified endogenous mouse MIWI fails to cleave mismatched targets in vitro. Surprisingly, here we find using knock-in mouse models that piRNA target sites with cleavage-site mismatches are precisely sliced in vivo. This is identical to the slicing outcome in knock-in mice where targets are identified by perfect complementarity base-pairing with the piRNA. Additionally, we find that such pachytene piRNA-guided MIWI/MILI slicing in vivo failed to initiate phased piRNA production from the specific target mRNA we studied. Instead, the two slicer cleavage fragments were retained in PIWI proteins as a pre-piRNA and 17-19 nt by-product fragments. Our results indicate that PIWI slicing rules established in vitro are not respected in vivo, and that all targets of PIWI slicing are not substrates for piRNA biogenesis.
Project description:Piwi-interacting small RNAs (piRNAs) of fetal prospermatogonia of mice have been strongly implicated in transposon control. In contrast, little is known about biogenesis and function of abundant piRNAs from adult testes expressed in late spermatocytes and round spermatids. These so-called "pachytene" piRNAs are processed from long non-coding piRNA precursors and have no defined RNA targets in the transcriptome even though their binding partner Piwi, MIWI, is essential for spermiogenesis and fertility. Here we report that 129SvJae mice lacking Maelstrom (MAEL), a conserved piRNA pathway protein, exhibit spermiogenic arrest with defects in acrosome and flagellum formation. Further analysis revealed MAEL association with RNPs containing MIWI, TDRD6, and processed intermediates of pachytene piRNA precursors of various length. Loss of MAEL causes a 10-fold drop in pachytene piRNA levels but an increase in piRNAs from abundantly expressed mRNAs. These results suggest a MAEL-dependent mechanism for the selective processing of pachytene piRNA precursor into piRNAs. Strikingly, ribosome profiling of Mael-null testes revealed that reduced piRNA production is accompanied by reduced translation of over 800 spermiogenic mRNAs including those encoding acrosome and flagellum proteins. In light of recent reports of piRNA-independent protection of translationally repressed mRNPs by MIWI and piRNA-dependent turnover of MIWI, we propose that pachytene piRNAs function by controlling the availably of MIWI for the translational repression of spermiogenic mRNAs. piRNA sequencing, RNA immunoprecipitation, and expression measurements (RNA-Seq and ribosome profiling) in wild-type and Mael -/- testes
Project description:Piwi-interacting small RNAs (piRNAs) of fetal prospermatogonia of mice have been strongly implicated in transposon control. In contrast, little is known about biogenesis and function of abundant piRNAs from adult testes expressed in late spermatocytes and round spermatids. These so-called "pachytene" piRNAs are processed from long non-coding piRNA precursors and have no defined RNA targets in the transcriptome even though their binding partner Piwi, MIWI, is essential for spermiogenesis and fertility. Here we report that 129SvJae mice lacking Maelstrom (MAEL), a conserved piRNA pathway protein, exhibit spermiogenic arrest with defects in acrosome and flagellum formation. Further analysis revealed MAEL association with RNPs containing MIWI, TDRD6, and processed intermediates of pachytene piRNA precursors of various length. Loss of MAEL causes a 10-fold drop in pachytene piRNA levels but an increase in piRNAs from abundantly expressed mRNAs. These results suggest a MAEL-dependent mechanism for the selective processing of pachytene piRNA precursor into piRNAs. Strikingly, ribosome profiling of Mael-null testes revealed that reduced piRNA production is accompanied by reduced translation of over 800 spermiogenic mRNAs including those encoding acrosome and flagellum proteins. In light of recent reports of piRNA-independent protection of translationally repressed mRNPs by MIWI and piRNA-dependent turnover of MIWI, we propose that pachytene piRNAs function by controlling the availably of MIWI for the translational repression of spermiogenic mRNAs.
Project description:During embryonic germ cell development in mice, transposon-enriched, piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) guide MILI and MIWI2 to direct silencing of potentially active mobile element families. In contrast, we know much less about the function of the highly abundant and extremely diverse class of piRNAs, which partner with MIWI and MILI during meiosis. Both MIWI and its catalytic activity are required for successful spermatogenesis, strongly indicating that piRNA-guided cleavage is critical for germ cell development. To gain an understanding of meiotic piRNA targets, we augmented the mouse piRNA repertoire by introducing an entire human meiotic piRNA cluster. This triggered a spermatogenesis defect, presumably by inappropriately targeting the piRNA machinery to mouse RNAs essential for germ cell development. Through an analysis of such de novo targets, we derived a signature for pachytene piRNA target recognition. This enabled identification of both transposable elements and meiotically expressed protein coding genes as targets of native piRNAs. Cleavage of genic targets begins at the pachytene stage when meiotic piRNAs first appear. As such, target mRNA levels attenuate starting from the pachytene stage and are further repressed throughout meiosis. Target mRNA-piRNA pairs also show evidence of an ongoing cleavage-dependent amplification cycle, which is not normally a strong feature of meiotic piRNAs. Our data support the idea that meiotic piRNA populations must be strongly selected to enable successful spermatogenesis, both driving the response away from essential genes and directing the pathway toward mRNA targets that are regulated by small RNAs in meiotic cells. 48 samples
Project description:During embryonic germ cell development in mice, transposon-enriched, piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) guide MILI and MIWI2 to direct silencing of potentially active mobile element families. In contrast, we know much less about the function of the highly abundant and extremely diverse class of piRNAs, which partner with MIWI and MILI during meiosis. Both MIWI and its catalytic activity are required for successful spermatogenesis, strongly indicating that piRNA-guided cleavage is critical for germ cell development. To gain an understanding of meiotic piRNA targets, we augmented the mouse piRNA repertoire by introducing an entire human meiotic piRNA cluster. This triggered a spermatogenesis defect, presumably by inappropriately targeting the piRNA machinery to mouse RNAs essential for germ cell development. Through an analysis of such de novo targets, we derived a signature for pachytene piRNA target recognition. This enabled identification of both transposable elements and meiotically expressed protein coding genes as targets of native piRNAs. Cleavage of genic targets begins at the pachytene stage when meiotic piRNAs first appear. As such, target mRNA levels attenuate starting from the pachytene stage and are further repressed throughout meiosis. Target mRNA-piRNA pairs also show evidence of an ongoing cleavage-dependent amplification cycle, which is not normally a strong feature of meiotic piRNAs. Our data support the idea that meiotic piRNA populations must be strongly selected to enable successful spermatogenesis, both driving the response away from essential genes and directing the pathway toward mRNA targets that are regulated by small RNAs in meiotic cells.