Primary and secondary siRNA synthesis triggered by RNAs from food bacteria in the ciliate Paramecium tetraurelia

Invasion by exogenous RNA: cellular defense strategies and implications for RNA inference

Exogenous RNA poses a continuous threat to genome stability and integrity across various organisms. Accumulating evidence reveals complex mechanisms underlying the cellular response to exogenous RNA, including endo-lysosomal degradation, RNA-dependent repression and innate immune clearance. Across a variety of mechanisms, the natural anti-sense RNA-dependent defensive strategy has been utilized both as a powerful gene manipulation tool and gene therapy strategy named RNA-interference (RNAi). To optimize the efficiency of RNAi silencing, a comprehensive understanding of the whole life cycle of exogenous RNA, from cellular entry to its decay, is vital. In this paper, we review recent progress in comprehending the recognition and elimination of foreign RNA by cells, focusing on cellular entrance, intracellular transportation, and immune-inflammatory responses. By leveraging these insights, we highlight the potential implications of these insights for advancing RNA interference efficiency, underscore the need for future studies to elucidate the pathways and fates of various exogenous RNA forms, and provide foundational information for more efficient RNA delivery methods in both genetic manipulation and therapy in different organisms.

Paramecium epigenetics in development and proliferation

The term epigenetics is used for any layer of genetic information aside from the DNA base-sequence information. Mammalian epigenetic research increased our understanding of chromatin dynamics in terms of cytosine methylation and histone modification during differentiation, aging, and disease. Instead, ciliate epigenetics focused more on small RNA-mediated effects. On the one hand, these do concern the transport of RNA from parental to daughter nuclei, representing a regulated transfer of epigenetic information across generations. On the other hand, studies of Paramecium, Tetrahymena, Oxytricha, and Stylonychia revealed an almost unique function of transgenerational RNA. Rather than solely controlling chromatin dynamics, they control sexual progeny's DNA content quantitatively and qualitatively. Thus epigenetics seems to control genetics, at least genetics of the vegetative macronucleus. This combination offers ciliates, in particular, an epigenetically controlled genetic variability. This review summarizes the epigenetic mechanisms that contribute to macronuclear heterogeneity and relates these to nuclear dimorphism. This system's adaptive and evolutionary possibilities raise the critical question of whether such a system is limited to unicellular organisms or binuclear cells. We discuss here the relevance of ciliate genetics and epigenetics to multicellular organisms.

PCD Genes-From Patients to Model Organisms and Back to Humans

Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a hereditary genetic disorder caused by the lack of motile cilia or the assembxly of dysfunctional ones. This rare human disease affects 1 out of 10,000-20,000 individuals and is caused by mutations in at least 50 genes. The past twenty years brought significant progress in the identification of PCD-causative genes and in our understanding of the connections between causative mutations and ciliary defects observed in affected individuals. These scientific advances have been achieved, among others, due to the extensive motile cilia-related research conducted using several model organisms, ranging from protists to mammals. These are unicellular organisms such as the green alga Chlamydomonas, the parasitic protist Trypanosoma, and free-living ciliates, Tetrahymena and Paramecium, the invertebrate Schmidtea, and vertebrates such as zebrafish, Xenopus, and mouse. Establishing such evolutionarily distant experimental models with different levels of cell or body complexity was possible because both basic motile cilia ultrastructure and protein composition are highly conserved throughout evolution. Here, we characterize model organisms commonly used to study PCD-related genes, highlight their pros and cons, and summarize experimental data collected using these models.

Two Piwis with Ago-like functions silence somatic genes at the chromatin level

Most sRNA biogenesis mechanisms involve either RNAse III cleavage or ping-pong amplification by different Piwi proteins harbouring slicer activity. Here, we follow the question why the mechanism of transgene-induced silencing in the ciliate Paramecium needs both Dicer activity and two Ptiwi proteins. This pathway involves primary siRNAs produced from non-translatable transgenes and secondary siRNAs from targeted endogenous loci. Our data does not indicate any signatures from ping-pong amplification but Dicer cleavage of long dsRNA. Ptiwi13 and 14 prefer different sub-cellular localizations and different preferences for primary and secondary siRNAs but do not load them mutually exclusive. Both Piwis enrich for antisense RNAs and show a general preference for uridine-rich sRNAs along the entire sRNA length. In addition, Ptiwi14-loaded siRNAs show a 5´-U signature. Our data indicates both Ptiwis and 2´-O-methylation contributing to strand selection of Dicer cleaved siRNAs. This unexpected function of the two distinct vegetative Piwis extends the increasing knowledge of the diversity of Piwi functions in diverse silencing pathways. We describe an unusual mode of action of Piwi proteins extending not only the great variety of Piwi-associated RNAi pathways but moreover raising the question whether this could have been the primordial one.

Emergent RNA-RNA interactions can promote stability in a facultative phototrophic endosymbiosis

Stable endosymbiosis between eukaryotic microbes has driven the evolution of further cellular complexity. Yet the mechanisms that can act to stabilize an emergent eukaryote–eukaryote endosymbiosis are unclear. Using the model facultative endosymbiotic system, Paramecium bursaria, we demonstrate that endosymbiont–host RNA–RNA interactions can drive a cost to host growth upon endosymbiont digestion. These RNA–RNA interactions are facilitated by the host RNA-interference system. For endosymbiont messenger RNA sharing a high level of sequence identity with host transcripts, this process can result in host gene knockdown. We propose that these endosymbiont–host RNA–RNA interactions—“RNA-interference collisions”—represent an emergent mechanism to sanction the host for breakdown of the endosymbiosis, promoting the stability of the facultative endosymbiotic interaction.

Eukaryote–eukaryote endosymbiosis was responsible for the spread of chloroplast (plastid) organelles. Stability is required for the metabolic and genetic integration that drives the establishment of new organelles, yet the mechanisms that act to stabilize emergent endosymbioses—between two fundamentally selfish biological organisms—are unclear. Theory suggests that enforcement mechanisms, which punish misbehavior, may act to stabilize such interactions by resolving conflict. However, how such mechanisms can emerge in a facultative endosymbiosis has yet to be explored. Here, we propose that endosymbiont–host RNA–RNA interactions, arising from digestion of the endosymbiont population, can result in a cost to host growth for breakdown of the endosymbiosis. Using the model facultative endosymbiosis between Paramecium bursaria and Chlorella spp., we demonstrate that this mechanism is dependent on the host RNA-interference (RNAi) system. We reveal through small RNA (sRNA) sequencing that endosymbiont-derived messenger RNA (mRNA) released upon endosymbiont digestion can be processed by the host RNAi system into 23-nt sRNA. We predict multiple regions of shared sequence identity between endosymbiont and host mRNA, and demonstrate through delivery of synthetic endosymbiont sRNA that exposure to these regions can knock down expression of complementary host genes, resulting in a cost to host growth. This process of host gene knockdown in response to endosymbiont-derived RNA processing by host RNAi factors, which we term “RNAi collisions,” represents a mechanism that can promote stability in a facultative eukaryote–eukaryote endosymbiosis. Specifically, by imposing a cost for breakdown of the endosymbiosis, endosymbiont–host RNA–RNA interactions may drive maintenance of the symbiosis across fluctuating ecological conditions.

Improvement of host-induced gene silencing efficiency via polycistronic-tRNA-amiR expression for multiple target genes and characterization of RNAi mechanism in Mythimna separata

Host-induced gene silencing (HIGS) emerged as a new strategy for pest control. However, RNAi efficiency is reported to be low in Lepidoptera, which are composed of many important crop pests. To address this, we generated transgenic plants to develop HIGS effects in a maize pest, Mythimna separata (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae), by targeting chitinase encoding genes. More importantly, we developed an artificial microRNA (amiR) based PTA (polycistronic-tRNA-amiR) system for silencing multiple target genes. Compared with hpRNA (hairpin RNA), transgenic expression of a PTA cassette including an amiR for the gut-specific dsRNA nuclease gene MsREase, resulted in improved knockdown efficiency and caused more pronounced developmental abnormalities in recipient insects. When target gene siRNAs were analysed after HIGS and direct dsRNA/siRNA feeding, common features such as sense polarity and siRNA hotspot regions were observed, however, they differed in siRNA transitivity and major 20-24nt siRNA species. Core RNAi genes were identified in M. separata, and biochemical activities of MsAGO2, MsSID1 and MsDcr2 were confirmed by EMSA (electrophoretic mobility shift assay) and dsRNA cleavage assays, respectively. Taken together, we provide compelling evidence for the existence of the RNAi mechanism in M. separata by analysis of both siRNA signatures and RNAi machinery components, and the PTA system could potentially be useful for future RNAi control of lepidopteran pests.

Ciliary Ca2+ pumps regulate intraciliary Ca2+ from the action potential and may co-localize with ciliary voltage-gated Ca2+ channels

Calcium ions (Ca2+) entering cilia through the ciliary voltage-gated calcium channels (CaV) during the action potential causes reversal of the ciliary power stroke and backward swimming in Paramecium tetraurelia. How calcium is returned to the resting level is not yet clear. Our focus is on calcium pumps as a possible mechanism. There are 23 P. tetraurelia genes for calcium pumps that are members of the family of plasma membrane Ca2+ ATPases (PMCAs). They have domains homologous to those found in mammalian PMCAs. Of the 13 pump proteins previously identified in cilia, ptPMCA2a and ptPMCA2b are most abundant in the cilia. We used RNAi to examine which PMCA might be involved in regulating intraciliary Ca2+ after the action potential. RNAi for only ptPMCA2a and ptPMCA2b causes cells to significantly prolong their backward swimming, which indicates that Ca2+ extrusion in the cilia is impaired when these PMCAs are depleted. We used immunoprecipitations (IP) to find that ptPMCA2a and ptPMCA2b are co-immunoprecipitated with the CaV channel α1 subunits that are found only in the cilia. We used iodixanol (OptiPrep) density gradients to show that ptPMCA2a and ptPMCA2b and CaV1c are found in the same density fractions. These results suggest that ptPMCA2a and ptPMCA2b are located in the proximity of ciliary CaV channels.

Characterization of the RNA-interference pathway as a tool for reverse genetic analysis in the nascent phototrophic endosymbiosis, Paramecium bursaria

Endosymbiosis was fundamental for the evolution of eukaryotic complexity. Endosymbiotic interactions can be dissected through forward- and reverse-genetic experiments, such as RNA-interference (RNAi). However, distinguishing small (s)RNA pathways in a eukaryote-eukaryote endosymbiotic interaction is challenging. Here, we investigate the repertoire of RNAi pathway protein-encoding genes in the model nascent endosymbiotic system, Paramecium bursaria-Chlorella spp. Using comparative genomics and transcriptomics supported by phylogenetics, we identify essential proteome components of the small interfering (si)RNA, scan (scn)RNA and internal eliminated sequence (ies)RNA pathways. Our analyses reveal that copies of these components have been retained throughout successive whole genome duplication (WGD) events in the Paramecium clade. We validate feeding-induced siRNA-based RNAi in P. bursaria via knock-down of the splicing factor, u2af1, which we show to be crucial to host growth. Finally, using simultaneous knock-down 'paradox' controls to rescue the effect of u2af1 knock-down, we demonstrate that feeding-induced RNAi in P. bursaria is dependent upon a core pathway of host-encoded Dcr1, Piwi and Pds1 components. Our experiments confirm the presence of a functional, host-derived RNAi pathway in P. bursaria that generates 23-nt siRNA, validating the use of the P. bursaria-Chlorella spp. system to investigate the genetic basis of a nascent endosymbiosis.

MKS-NPHP module proteins control ciliary shedding at the transition zone

Ciliary shedding occurs from unicellular organisms to metazoans. Although required during the cell cycle and during neurogenesis, the process remains poorly understood. In all cellular models, this phenomenon occurs distal to the transition zone (TZ), suggesting conserved molecular mechanisms. The TZ module proteins (Meckel Gruber syndrome [MKS]/Nephronophtysis [NPHP]/Centrosomal protein of 290 kDa [CEP290]/Retinitis pigmentosa GTPase regulator-Interacting Protein 1-Like Protein [RPGRIP1L]) are known to cooperate to establish TZ formation and function. To determine whether they control deciliation, we studied the function of 5 of them (Transmembrane protein 107 [TMEM107], Transmembrane protein 216 [TMEM216], CEP290, RPGRIP1L, and NPHP4) in Paramecium. All proteins are recruited to the TZ of growing cilia and localize with 9-fold symmetry at the level of the most distal part of the TZ. We demonstrate that depletion of the MKS2/TMEM216 and TMEM107 proteins induces constant deciliation of some cilia, while depletion of either NPHP4, CEP290, or RPGRIP1L prevents Ca2+/EtOH deciliation. Our results constitute the first evidence for a role of conserved TZ proteins in deciliation and open new directions for understanding motile cilia physiology.

Functional analysis and subcellular localisation of the conserved transition zone proteins in the ciliate Paramecium tetraurelia demonstrates their involvement in the ciliary shedding process, opening new avenues fir understanding the molecular mechanism of deciliation.

Feeding exogenous dsRNA interferes with endogenous sRNA accumulation in Paramecium

Supply of exogenous dsRNA (exo-dsRNA), either by injection or by feeding, is a fast and powerful alternative to classical knockout studies. The biotechnical potential of feeding techniques is evident from the numerous studies focusing on oral administration of dsRNA to control pests and viral infection in crops/animal farming. We aimed to dissect the direct and indirect effects of exo-dsRNA feeding on the endogenous short interfering RNA (endo-siRNA) populations of the free-living ciliate Paramecium. We introduced dsRNA fragments against Dicer1 (DCR1), involved in RNA interference (RNAi) against exo- and few endo-siRNAs, and an RNAi unrelated gene, ND169. Any feeding, even the control dsRNA, diminishes genome wide the accumulation of endo-siRNAs and mRNAs. This cannot be explained by direct off-target effects and suggests mechanistic overlaps of the exo- and endo-RNAi mechanisms. Nevertheless, we observe a stronger down-regulation of mRNAs in DCR1 feeding compared with ND169 knockdown. This is likely due to the direct involvement of DCR1 in endo-siRNA accumulation. We further observed a cis-regulatory effect on mRNAs that overlap with phased endo-siRNAs. This interference of exo-dsRNA with endo-siRNAs warrants further investigations into secondary effects in target species/consumers, risk assessment of dsRNA feeding applications, and environmental pollution with dsRNA.

Exogenous RNAi mechanisms contribute to transcriptome adaptation by phased siRNA clusters in Paramecium

Extensive research has characterized distinct exogenous RNAi pathways interfering in gene expression during vegetative growth of the unicellular model ciliate Paramecium. However, role of RNAi in endogenous transcriptome regulation, and environmental adaptation is unknown. Here, we describe the first genome-wide profiling of endogenous sRNAs in context of different transcriptomic states (serotypes). We developed a pipeline to identify, and characterize 2602 siRNA producing clusters (SRCs). Our data show no evidence that SRCs produce miRNAs, and in contrast to other species, no preference for strand specificity of siRNAs. Interestingly, most SRCs overlap coding genes and a separate group show siRNA phasing along the entire open reading frame, suggesting that the mRNA transcript serves as a source for siRNAs. Integrative analysis of siRNA abundance and gene expression levels revealed surprisingly that mRNA and siRNA show negative as well as positive associations. Two RNA-dependent RNA Polymerase mutants, RDR1 and RDR2, show a drastic loss of siRNAs especially in phased SRCs accompanied with increased mRNA levels. Importantly, most SRCs depend on both RDRs, reminiscent to primary siRNAs in the RNAi against exogenous RNA, indicating mechanistic overlaps between exogenous and endogenous RNAi contributing to flexible transcriptome adaptation.

Automated analysis of small RNA datasets with RAPID

Understanding the role of short-interfering RNA (siRNA) in diverse biological processes is of current interest and often approached through small RNA sequencing. However, analysis of these datasets is difficult due to the complexity of biological RNA processing pathways, which differ between species. Several properties like strand specificity, length distribution, and distribution of soft-clipped bases are few parameters known to guide researchers in understanding the role of siRNAs. We present RAPID, a generic eukaryotic siRNA analysis pipeline, which captures information inherent in the datasets and automatically produces numerous visualizations as user-friendly HTML reports, covering multiple categories required for siRNA analysis. RAPID also facilitates an automated comparison of multiple datasets, with one of the normalization techniques dedicated for siRNA knockdown analysis, and integrates differential expression analysis using DESeq2.

Recent advances in exosome-based nanovehicles as RNA interference therapeutic carriers

RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics (siRNA, miRNA, etc.) represent an emerging medicinal remedy for a variety of ailments. However, their low serum stability and low cellular uptake significantly restrict their clinical applications. Exosomes are biologically derived nanodimensional vesicle ranging from a few nanometers to a hundred. In the last few years, several reports have been published demonstrating the emerging applications of these exogenous membrane vesicles, particularly in carrying different RNAi therapeutics to adjacent or distant targeted cells. In this report, we explored the numerous aspects of exosomes from structure to clinical implications with special emphasis on their application in delivering RNAi-based therapeutics. siRNA and miRNA have attracted great interest in recent years due to their specific application in treating many complex diseases including cancer. We highlight strategies to obviate the challenges of their low bioavailability for gene therapy.

A meiosis-specific Spt5 homolog involved in non-coding transcription

Spt5 is a conserved and essential transcriptional regulator that binds directly to RNA polymerase and is involved in transcription elongation, polymerase pausing and various co-transcriptional processes. To investigate the role of Spt5 in non-coding transcription, we used the unicellular model Paramecium tetraurelia. In this ciliate, development is controlled by epigenetic mechanisms that use different classes of non-coding RNAs to target DNA elimination. We identified two SPT5 genes. One (STP5v) is involved in vegetative growth, while the other (SPT5m) is essential for sexual reproduction. We focused our study on SPT5m, expressed at meiosis and associated with germline nuclei during sexual processes. Upon Spt5m depletion, we observed absence of scnRNAs, piRNA-like 25 nt small RNAs produced at meiosis. The scnRNAs are a temporal copy of the germline genome and play a key role in programming DNA elimination. Moreover, Spt5m depletion abolishes elimination of all germline-limited sequences, including sequences whose excision was previously shown to be scnRNA-independent. This suggests that in addition to scnRNA production, Spt5 is involved in setting some as yet uncharacterized epigenetic information at meiosis. Our study establishes that Spt5m is crucial for developmental genome rearrangements and necessary for scnRNA production.

Multimerization properties of PiggyMac, a domesticated piggyBac transposase involved in programmed genome rearrangements

During sexual processes, the ciliate Paramecium eliminates 25–30% of germline DNA from its somatic genome. DNA elimination includes excision of ∼45 000 short, single-copy internal eliminated sequences (IESs) and depends upon PiggyMac (Pgm), a domesticated piggyBac transposase that is essential for DNA cleavage at IES ends. Pgm carries a core transposase region with a putative catalytic domain containing three conserved aspartic acids, and a downstream cysteine-rich (CR) domain. A C-terminal extension of unknown function is predicted to adopt a coiled-coil (CC) structure. To address the role of the three domains, we designed an in vivo complementation assay by expressing wild-type or mutant Pgm-GFP fusions in cells depleted for their endogenous Pgm. The DDD triad and the CR domain are essential for Pgm activity and mutations in either domain have a dominant-negative effect in wild-type cells. A mutant lacking the CC domain is partially active in the presence of limiting Pgm amounts, but inactive when Pgm is completely absent, suggesting that presence of the mutant protein increases the overall number of active complexes. We conclude that IES excision involves multiple Pgm subunits, of which at least a fraction must contain the CC domain.

Efficient Generation of diRNAs Requires Components in the Posttranscriptional Gene Silencing Pathway

It has been reported that double-stranded break (DSB)-induced small RNAs (diRNAs) are generated via the RNA-directed DNA methylation pathway and function in DSB repair in Arabidposis. However, important questions remain regarding the biogenesis and function of diRNAs. Here, we used CRISPR/Cas9- or TALEN-triggered DSBs to characterize diRNAs in Arabidopsis and rice. We found that 21-nt diRNAs were generated from a 35S promoter::GU-US reporter transgene targeted by CRISPR/Cas9. Unexpectedly, Pol II transcription of the transgene was required for efficient diRNA production and the level of diRNA accumulation correlated with the expression level of the transgene. diRNAs were not detected from CRISPR/Cas9- or TALEN-induced DSBs within the examined endogenous genes in Arabidopsis or rice. We also found that DCL4 and RDR6 that are known to be involved in posttranscriptional gene silencing were required to generate diRNAs. Our results suggest that DSBs are necessary but not sufficient for efficient diRNA generation and a high level of diRNAs is not necessary for DSB repair.

Protists and the Wild, Wild West of Gene Expression: New Frontiers, Lawlessness, and Misfits

The DNA double helix has been called one of life's most elegant structures, largely because of its universality, simplicity, and symmetry. The expression of information encoded within DNA, however, can be far from simple or symmetric and is sometimes surprisingly variable, convoluted, and wantonly inefficient. Although exceptions to the rules exist in certain model systems, the true extent to which life has stretched the limits of gene expression is made clear by nonmodel systems, particularly protists (microbial eukaryotes). The nuclear and organelle genomes of protists are subject to the most tangled forms of gene expression yet identified. The complicated and extravagant picture of the underlying genetics of eukaryotic microbial life changes how we think about the flow of genetic information and the evolutionary processes shaping it. Here, we discuss the origins, diversity, and growing interest in noncanonical protist gene expression and its relationship to genomic architecture.

Two sets of RNAi components are required for heterochromatin formation in trans triggered by truncated transgenes

Across kingdoms, RNA interference (RNAi) has been shown to control gene expression at the transcriptional- or the post-transcriptional level. Here, we describe a mechanism which involves both aspects: truncated transgenes, which fail to produce intact mRNA, induce siRNA accumulation and silencing of homologous loci in trans in the ciliate Paramecium. We show that silencing is achieved by co-transcriptional silencing, associated with repressive histone marks at the endogenous gene. This is accompanied by secondary siRNA accumulation, strictly limited to the open reading frame of the remote locus. Our data shows that in this mechanism, heterochromatic marks depend on a variety of RNAi components. These include RDR3 and PTIWI14 as well as a second set of components, which are also involved in post-transcriptional silencing: RDR2, PTIWI13, DCR1 and CID2. Our data indicates differential processing of nascent un-spliced and long, spliced transcripts thus suggesting a hitherto-unrecognized functional interaction between post-transcriptional and co-transcriptional RNAi. Both sets of RNAi components are required for efficient trans-acting RNAi at the chromatin level and our data indicates similar mechanisms contributing to genome wide regulation of gene expression by epigenetic mechanisms.

Functional Evolution in Orthologous Cell-encoded RNA-dependent RNA Polymerases

Many eukaryotic organisms encode more than one RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) that probably emerged as a result of gene duplication. Such RdRP paralogs often participate in distinct RNA silencing pathways and show characteristic repertoires of enzymatic activities in vitro However, to what extent members of individual paralogous groups can undergo functional changes during speciation remains an open question. We show that orthologs of QDE-1, an RdRP component of the quelling pathway in Neurospora crassa, have rapidly diverged in evolution at the amino acid sequence level. Analyses of purified QDE-1 polymerases from N. crassa (QDE-1(Ncr)) and related fungi, Thielavia terrestris (QDE-1(Tte)) and Myceliophthora thermophila (QDE-1(Mth)), show that all three enzymes can synthesize RNA, but the precise modes of their action differ considerably. Unlike their QDE-1(Ncr) counterpart favoring processive RNA synthesis, QDE-1(Tte) and QDE-1(Mth) produce predominantly short RNA copies via primer-independent initiation. Surprisingly, a 3.19 Å resolution crystal structure of QDE-1(Tte) reveals a quasisymmetric dimer similar to QDE-1(Ncr) Further electron microscopy analyses confirm that QDE-1(Tte) occurs as a dimer in solution and retains this status upon interaction with a template. We conclude that divergence of orthologous RdRPs can result in functional innovation while retaining overall protein fold and quaternary structure.