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Zhang Y, Zhang X, Tang Q, Li L, Jiang T, Fang Y, Zhang H, Zhai J, Ren G, Zheng B. A repertoire of intronic lariat RNAs reveals tissue-specific regulation and target mimicry potential in plants. SCIENCE CHINA. LIFE SCIENCES 2024; 67:1280-1291. [PMID: 38489006 DOI: 10.1007/s11427-023-2466-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2023] [Accepted: 09/28/2023] [Indexed: 03/17/2024]
Abstract
Lariat RNA is concomitantly produced by excised intron during RNA splicing, which is usually debranched by DBR1, an RNA debranching enzyme. However, increasing evidence showed that some lariat RNA could escape debranching. Little is known about how and why these lariat RNAs could be retained. By comparing the atlas of lariat RNAs between the non-dividing cell (mature pollen) and three actively dividing tissues (young shoot apex, young seeds, and young roots), we identified hundreds to thousands of lariat RNA naturally retained in each tissue, and the incidence of lariat RNA retention is much less in shoot apex while much more in pollen. Many lariat RNAs derived from the same intron or different lariat RNAs from the same pre-mRNA could be retained in one tissue while degraded in the other tissues. By deciphering lariat RNA sequences, we identified an AG-rich (RAAAAVAAAR) motif and a UC-rich (UCUCUYUCUC) motif for pollen-specific and the other three tissues-retained lariat RNAs, respectively. Reconstitution of the pollen-specific AG-rich motif indeed enhanced lariat RNA retention in plants. Biologically, hundreds of lariat RNAs harbored miRNA binding sites, and dual-luciferase reporter assay showed that these natural lariat RNAs had the potential to protect expression of miRNA target genes. Collectively, our results uncover that selective retention of lariat RNA is an actively regulatory process, and provide new insights into understanding how lariat RNA metabolism may impact miRNA activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yong Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institute of Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China
| | - Xiaotuo Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institute of Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China
| | - Qi Tang
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institute of Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China
| | - Lei Li
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institute of Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China
| | - Ting Jiang
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institute of Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China
| | - Yixiao Fang
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institute of Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China
| | - Hong Zhang
- Department of Biology, School of Life Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China
| | - Jixian Zhai
- Department of Biology, School of Life Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China
| | - Guodong Ren
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institute of Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China
| | - Binglian Zheng
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institute of Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China.
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Pachamuthu K, Simon M, Borges F. Targeted suppression of siRNA biogenesis in Arabidopsis pollen promotes triploid seed viability. Nat Commun 2024; 15:4612. [PMID: 38816386 PMCID: PMC11139921 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48950-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2024] [Accepted: 05/14/2024] [Indexed: 06/01/2024] Open
Abstract
In plants, small-interfering RNAs (siRNAs) mediate epigenetic silencing via the RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) pathway, which is particularly prominent during reproduction and seed development. However, there is limited understanding of the origins and dynamics of reproductive siRNAs acting in different cellular and developmental contexts. Here, we used the RNaseIII-like protein RTL1 to suppress siRNA biogenesis in Arabidopsis pollen, and found distinct siRNA subsets produced during pollen development. We demonstrate that RTL1 expression in the late microspore and vegetative cell strongly impairs epigenetic silencing, and resembles RdDM mutants in their ability to bypass interploidy hybridization barriers in the seed. However, germline-specific RTL1 expression did not impact transgenerational inheritance of triploid seed lethality. These results reveal the existence of multiple siRNA subsets accumulated in mature pollen, and suggest that mobile siRNAs involved in the triploid block are produced in germline precursor cells after meiosis, or in the vegetative cell during pollen mitosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kannan Pachamuthu
- Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin (IJPB), Versailles, France
- School of Biosciences and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Matthieu Simon
- Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin (IJPB), Versailles, France
| | - Filipe Borges
- Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin (IJPB), Versailles, France.
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Liang C, Wang X, He H, Xu C, Cui J. Beyond Loading: Functions of Plant ARGONAUTE Proteins. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:16054. [PMID: 38003244 PMCID: PMC10671604 DOI: 10.3390/ijms242216054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2023] [Revised: 10/31/2023] [Accepted: 11/04/2023] [Indexed: 11/26/2023] Open
Abstract
ARGONAUTE (AGO) proteins are key components of the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) that mediates gene silencing in eukaryotes. Small-RNA (sRNA) cargoes are selectively loaded into different members of the AGO protein family and then target complementary sequences to in-duce transcriptional repression, mRNA cleavage, or translation inhibition. Previous reviews have mainly focused on the traditional roles of AGOs in specific biological processes or on the molecular mechanisms of sRNA sorting. In this review, we summarize the biological significance of canonical sRNA loading, including the balance among distinct sRNA pathways, cross-regulation of different RISC activities during plant development and defense, and, especially, the emerging roles of AGOs in sRNA movement. We also discuss recent advances in novel non-canonical functions of plant AGOs. Perspectives for future functional studies of this evolutionarily conserved eukaryotic protein family will facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of the multi-faceted AGO proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Jie Cui
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for Plant Epigenetics, College of Life Sciences and Oceanography, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; (C.L.); (X.W.); (H.H.); (C.X.)
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Herridge RP, Dolata J, Migliori V, de Santis Alves C, Borges F, Schorn AJ, Van Ex F, Parent JS, Lin A, Bajczyk M, Leonardi T, Hendrick A, Kouzarides T, Martienssen RA. Pseudouridine guides germline small RNA transport and epigenetic inheritance. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.05.27.542553. [PMID: 37398006 PMCID: PMC10312437 DOI: 10.1101/2023.05.27.542553] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/04/2023]
Abstract
Epigenetic modifications that arise during plant and animal development, such as DNA and histone modification, are mostly reset during gamete formation, but some are inherited from the germline including those marking imprinted genes1. Small RNAs guide these epigenetic modifications, and some are also inherited by the next generation2,3. In C. elegans, these inherited small RNAs have poly (UG) tails4, but how inherited small RNAs are distinguished in other animals and plants is unknown. Pseudouridine (Ψ) is the most abundant RNA modification but has not been explored in small RNAs. Here, we develop novel assays to detect Ψ in short RNA sequences, demonstrating its presence in mouse and Arabidopsis microRNAs and their precursors. We also detect substantial enrichment in germline small RNAs, namely epigenetically activated siRNAs (easiRNAs) in Arabidopsis pollen, and piwi-interacting piRNAs in mouse testis. In pollen, pseudouridylated easiRNAs are localized to sperm cells, and we found that PAUSED/HEN5 (PSD), the plant homolog of Exportin-t, interacts genetically with Ψ and is required for transport of easiRNAs into sperm cells from the vegetative nucleus. We further show that Exportin-t is required for the triploid block: chromosome dosage-dependent seed lethality that is epigenetically inherited from pollen. Thus, Ψ has a conserved role in marking inherited small RNAs in the germline.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rowan P Herridge
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, 11724, USA
| | - Jakub Dolata
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, 11724, USA
- Department of Gene Expression, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland
| | - Valentina Migliori
- The Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QN, UK
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK
| | | | - Filipe Borges
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, 11724, USA
| | - Andrea J Schorn
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, 11724, USA
| | - Frédéric Van Ex
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, 11724, USA
| | - Jean-Sebastien Parent
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, 11724, USA
| | - Ann Lin
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, 11724, USA
| | - Mateusz Bajczyk
- Department of Gene Expression, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland
| | - Tommaso Leonardi
- The Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QN, UK
- Center for Genomic Science of IIT@SEMM, Instituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), 20139 Milan, Italy
| | - Alan Hendrick
- Storm Therapeutics, Ltd., Moneta Building (B280), Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge CB22 3AT, UK
| | - Tony Kouzarides
- The Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QN, UK
| | - Robert A Martienssen
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, 11724, USA
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Ohnishi Y, Kawashima T. Evidence of a novel silencing effect on transgenes in the Arabidopsis thaliana sperm cell. THE PLANT CELL 2023; 35:3926-3936. [PMID: 37602710 PMCID: PMC10615207 DOI: 10.1093/plcell/koad219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2023] [Revised: 07/17/2023] [Accepted: 08/08/2023] [Indexed: 08/22/2023]
Abstract
We encountered unexpected transgene silencing in Arabidopsis thaliana sperm cells; transgenes encoding proteins with no specific intracellular localization (cytoplasmic proteins) were silenced transcriptionally or posttranscriptionally. The mRNA of cytoplasmic protein transgenes tagged with a fluorescent protein gene was significantly reduced, resulting in undetectable fluorescent protein signals in the sperm cell. Silencing of the cytoplasmic protein transgenes in the sperm cell did not affect the expression of either its endogenous homologous genes or cotransformed transgenes encoding a protein with targeted intracellular localization. This transgene silencing in the sperm cell persisted in mutants of the major gene silencing machinery including DNA methylation. The incomprehensible, yet real, transgene silencing phenotypes occurring in the sperm cell could mislead the interpretation of experimental results in plant reproduction, and this Commentary calls attention to that risk and highlights details of this novel cytoplasmic protein transgene silencing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yukinosuke Ohnishi
- Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40503,USA
| | - Tomokazu Kawashima
- Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40503,USA
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Jiang T, Zheng B. Epigenetic Regulation of Megaspore Mother Cell Formation. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2022; 12:826871. [PMID: 35185968 PMCID: PMC8850924 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2021.826871] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2021] [Accepted: 12/31/2021] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
In flowering plants, the female gametophyte (FG) initiates from the formation of the megaspore mother cell (MMC). Among a pool of the somatic cells in the ovule primordium, only one hypodermal cell undergoes a transition of cell fate to become the MMC. Subsequently, the MMC undergoes a series of meiosis and mitosis to form the mature FG harboring seven cells with eight nuclei. Although SPL/NZZ, the core transcription factor for MMC formation, was identified several decades ago, which and why only one somatic cell is chosen as the MMC have long remained mysterious. A growing body of evidence reveal that MMC formation is associated with epigenetic regulation at multiple layers, including dynamic distribution of histone variants and histone modifications, small RNAs, and DNA methylation. In this review, we summarize the progress of epigenetic regulation in the MMC formation, emphasizing the roles of chromosome condensation, histone variants, histone methylation, small RNAs, and DNA methylation.
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Zhao Y, Jiang T, Li L, Zhang X, Yang T, Liu C, Chu J, Zheng B. The chromatin remodeling complex imitation of switch controls stamen filament elongation by promoting jasmonic acid biosynthesis in Arabidopsis. J Genet Genomics 2021; 48:123-133. [PMID: 33903069 DOI: 10.1016/j.jgg.2021.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2020] [Revised: 01/31/2021] [Accepted: 02/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Plant reproduction requires the coordinated development of both male and female reproductive organs. Jasmonic acid (JA) plays an essential role in stamen filament elongation. However, the mechanism by which the JA biosynthesis genes are regulated to promote stamen elongation remains unclear. Here, we show that the chromatin remodeling complex Imitation of Switch (ISWI) promotes stamen filament elongation by regulating JA biosynthesis. We show that AT-Rich Interacting Domain 5 (ARID5) interacts with CHR11, CHR17, and RLT1, several known subunits of ISWI. Mutations in ARID5 and RLTs caused a reduced seed set due to greatly shortened stamen filaments. RNA-seq analyses reveal that the expression of key genes responsible for JA biosynthesis is significantly down-regulated in the arid5 and rlt mutants. Consistently, the JA levels are drastically decreased in both arid5 and rlt mutants. Chromatin immunoprecipitation-quantitative PCR analyses further show that ARID5 is recruited to the chromatin of JA biosynthesis genes. Importantly, exogenous JA treatments can fully rescue the defects of stamen filament elongation in both arid5 and rlt mutants, leading to the partial recovery of fertility. Our results provide a clue how JA biosynthesisis positively regulated by the chromatin remodeling complex ISWI, thereby promoting stamen filament elongation in Arabidopsis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Youshang Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Biodiversity Sciences and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Ting Jiang
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Biodiversity Sciences and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Lei Li
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Biodiversity Sciences and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Xiaotuo Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Biodiversity Sciences and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Tianyu Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Biodiversity Sciences and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Cuimei Liu
- National Centre for Plant Gene Research (Beijing), Innovation Academy for Seed Design, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Jinfang Chu
- National Centre for Plant Gene Research (Beijing), Innovation Academy for Seed Design, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; College of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China
| | - Binglian Zheng
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Biodiversity Sciences and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China.
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