Project description:We identified a novel long non-coding RNA Lx8-SINE B2, that is a marker of pluripotency. Depletion of Lx8-SINE B2 impacts embryonic stem cell self-renewal. RNA-seq analysis of Lx8-SINE B2 depletion revealed that a number of glycolytic genes with decreased expression. Mechanistically, we found that the Lx8-SINE B2 activates the glycolysis pathway by binding to Eno1. Collectively, our data suggest that Lx8-SINE B2 maintains the self-renewal of mESCs through glycolysis.
Project description:Short interspersed nuclear elements (SINEs) are retrotransposons evolutionarily derived from endogenous RNA Polymerase III RNAs. Though SINE elements have undergone exaptation into gene regulatory elements, how transcribed SINE RNA impacts transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation is largely unknown. This is partly due to a lack of information regarding which of the loci have transcriptional potential. Here, we present an approach (short interspersed nuclear element sequencing, SINE-seq), which selectively profiles RNA Polymerase III-derived SINE RNA, thereby identifying transcriptionally active SINE loci. Applying SINE-seq to monitor murine B2 SINE expression during a gammaherpesvirus infection revealed transcription from 28,270 SINE loci, with ~50% of active SINE elements residing within annotated RNA Polymerase II loci. Furthermore, B2 RNA can form intermolecular RNA-RNA interactions with complementary mRNAs, leading to nuclear retention of the targeted mRNA via a mechanism involving p54nrb. These findings illuminate a pathway for the selective regulation of mRNA export during stress via retrotransposon activation.
Project description:To profile downstream gene-expression changes regulated by DLK, we profiled motoneurons in the lumbar spinal cord using RiboTag, following sciatic nerve crush in both control and Dlk conditional knockout (Dlk ΔMN) mice. We found that DLK regulates the expression of many secreted proteins, which have the potential to influence the behavior of other cells, including the immune system.
Project description:Sciatic nerve ligation was performed on cohorts of 2-month and 24-month old animals. Resulting gene-expression data were generated from sciatic nerve 1 and 4 days after injury compared to naïve animals. Results show differences in sciatic nerve responses with normal aging. Total RNA taken from sciatic nerves from 2-month and 24-month old animals at either day 0, 1 and 4 after sciatic nerve crush injury.
Project description:We report the comparison between SINE B2-AS transcriptome profiling and Dicer1-deficient-cell transcriptome profiling using RNA-seq analysis. We report that thousands of SINE B2 copies encode long B2-AS transcripts, which are constantly degraded by Dicer1. This new class of B2-AS transcripts regulates the expression of SINE B2 sense (B2-S) transcripts. Long B2-S is the main cause of cellular toxicity likely mediated by the multifunctional protein TSPO. Some B2-AS transcripts are putative miRNAs interconnected with the RNAi system. We propose that B2-AS transcripts have evolved as a self-defense mechanism to subvert the host RNAi system.