Loss of miR-210 leads to progressive retinal degeneration in Drosophila melanogaster

tRNA-derived small RNAs are embedded in the gene regulatory network instructing Drosophila metamorphosis

A class of noncoding RNAs, referred to as tsRNAs, is emerging with a potential to exert a new layer in gene regulation. These RNAs are breakdown products of tRNAs, either through active processing or passive cleavage or both. Since tRNAs are part of the general machinery for translation, their expression levels and activities are tightly controlled, raising the possibility that their breakdown products, tsRNAs, may provide a link between the overall translational status of a cell to specific changes in gene regulatory network. We hypothesize that Drosophila pupation, being a special developmental stage during which there is a global limitation of nutrients, represents a system in which such a link may readily reveal itself. We show that specific tsRNAs indeed show a dynamic accumulation upon entering the pupal stage. We describe experiments to characterize the mode of tsRNA action and, through the use of such gained knowledge, conduct a genome-wide analysis to assess the functions of dynamically expressed tsRNAs. Our results show that the predicted target genes are highly enriched in biological processes specific to this stage of development including metamorphosis. We further show that tsRNA action is required for successful pupation, providing direct support to the hypothesis that tsRNAs accumulated during this stage are critical to the gene expression program at this stage of development.

The Role of microRNAs in the Drosophila Melanogaster Visual System

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs (∼22 nucleotides in length) that negatively regulate protein-coding gene expression post-transcriptionally by targeting mRNAs and triggering either translational repression or RNA degradation. MiRNA genes represent approximately 1% of the genome of different species and it has been estimated that every miRNA can interact with an average of 200 mRNA transcripts, with peaks of 1,500 mRNA targets per miRNA molecule. As a result, miRNAs potentially play a fundamental role in several biological processes including development, metabolism, proliferation, and apoptotic cell death, both in physiological and pathological conditions. Since miRNAs were discovered, Drosophila melanogaster has been used as a model organism to shed light on their functions and their molecular mechanisms in the regulation of many biological and behavioral processes. In this review we focus on the roles of miRNAs in the fruit fly brain, at the level of the visual system that is composed by the compound eyes, each containing ∼800 independent unit eyes called ommatidia, and each ommatidium is composed of eight photoreceptor neurons that project into the optic lobes. We describe the roles of a set of miRNAs in the development and in the proper function of the optic lobes (bantam, miR-7, miR-8, miR-210) and of the compound eyes (bantam, miR-7, miR-9a, miR-210, miR-263a/b, miR-279/996), summarizing also the pleiotropic effects that some miRNAs exert on circadian behavior.

Abundant small RNAs in the reproductive tissues and eggs of the honey bee, Apis mellifera

Background

Polyandrous social insects such as the honey bee are prime candidates for parental manipulation of gene expression in offspring. Although there is good evidence for parent-of-origin effects in honey bees the epigenetic mechanisms that underlie these effects remain a mystery. Small RNA molecules such as miRNAs, piRNAs and siRNAs play important roles in transgenerational epigenetic inheritance and in the regulation of gene expression during development.

Results

Here we present the first characterisation of small RNAs present in honey bee reproductive tissues: ovaries, spermatheca, semen, fertilised and unfertilised eggs, and testes. We show that semen contains fewer piRNAs relative to eggs and ovaries, and that piRNAs and miRNAs which map antisense to genes involved in DNA regulation and developmental processes are differentially expressed between tissues. tRNA fragments are highly abundant in semen and have a similar profile to those seen in the semen of other animals. Intriguingly we also find abundant piRNAs that target the sex determination locus, suggesting that piRNAs may play a role in honey bee sex determination.

Conclusions

We conclude that small RNAs may play a fundamental role in honey bee gametogenesis and reproduction and provide a plausible mechanism for parent-of-origin effects on gene expression and reproductive physiology.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12864-022-08478-9.

Eph signaling is regulated by miRNA-210: Implications for corneal epithelial repair

A distinct boundary exists between the progenitor cells in the basal limbal epithelium and the more differentiated corneal epithelial basal cells. We have shown that reciprocal expression patterns of EphA2 and Ephrin-A1 are likely to contribute to normal limbal-corneal epithelial compartmentalization as well as play a role in response to injury. How this signaling axis is regulated remains unclear. We have demonstrated that microRNAs (miRNAs) play critical roles in corneal epithelial wound healing and several miRNAs (e.g. miR-210) have been predicted to target ephrins. Previous expression profiling experiments demonstrated that miR-210 is prominently expressed in corneal epithelial cells. RNA-seq data acquired from miR-210-depleted HCECs showed up-regulation of genes involved in cellular migration. In addition, miR-210 is decreased after corneal injury while EphA2 is increased. Moreover, antago-210-treated HCECs markedly enhanced wound closure in a scratch wound assay. Antago-210 treatment resulted in increased EphA2 protein levels as well as pS897-EphA2, the pro-migratory form of EphA2. As expected, Ephrin-A1 levels were reduced, while levels of a well-known target of miR-210, Ephrin-A3, were increased by antago-210 treatment. The increase in migration with antago-210 could be inhibited by Ephrin-A1 overexpression, Ephrin-A1-Fc treatment or siRNA depletion of EphA2. However, depletion of Ephrin-A3 did not have effects on the antago-210-induced increase in migration. In addition, Ephrin-A1 overexpression and siEphA2 dampened EGFR signaling, which is increased by antago-210. Our data clearly demonstrate a link between miR-210 and EphA2/Ephrin-A1 signaling that regulates, in part, corneal epithelial migration. This interaction might potentially control the limbal-corneal epithelial boundary.

Sexually dimorphic microRNA miR-190 regulates lifespan in male Drosophila

microRNAs are short noncoding RNAs that buffer fluctuations in gene expression in a myriad of physiological conditions. Here, we carried out a screen to identify the role of microRNAs in the maintenance of age-dependent neuronal functions in adult Drosophila. We report that miR-190 acts in the neurons to regulate lifespan, neuronal maintanence and age-related locomotor activity specifically in male flies. miR-190, a highly conserved microRNA, shows higher expression levels in male flies. Our data suggest that miR-190 functions by regulating target genes that are involved in maintaining neuronal activity and lifespan in male flies.

Post-transcriptional modulators and mediators of the circadian clock

The endogenous circadian timekeeping system drives ~24-h rhythms in gene expression and rhythmically coordinates the physiology, metabolism and behavior in a wide range of organisms. Regulation at various levels is important for the accurate functioning of this circadian timing system. The core circadian oscillator consists of an interlocked transcriptional-translational negative feedback loop (TTFL) that imposes a substantial delay between the accumulation of clock gene mRNA and its protein to generate 24-h oscillations. This TTFL mediated daily oscillation of clock proteins is further fine-tuned by post-translational modifications that regulate the clock protein stability, interaction with other proteins and subcellular localization. Emerging evidence from various studies indicates that besides TTFL and post-translational modifications, post-transcriptional regulation plays a key role in shaping the rhythmicity of mRNAs and to delay the accumulation of clock proteins in relation to their mRNAs. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on the importance of post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms such as splicing, polyadenylation, the role of RNA-binding proteins, RNA methylation and microRNAs in the context of shaping the circadian rhythmicity in Drosophila and mammals. In particular, we discuss microRNAs, an important player in post-transcriptional regulation of core-clock machinery, circadian neural circuit, clock input, and output pathways. Furthermore, we provide an overview of the microRNAs that exhibit diurnal rhythm in expression and their role in mediating rhythmic physiological processes.

A stress-responsive miRNA regulates BMP signaling to maintain tissue homeostasis

Adult organisms must sense and adapt to environmental fluctuations. In high-turnover tissues such as the intestine, these adaptive responses require rapid changes in gene expression that, in turn, likely involve posttranscriptional gene control. However, intestinal-tissue-specific microRNA (miRNA)-mediated regulatory pathways remain unexplored. Here, we report the role of an intestinal-specific miRNA, miR-958, that non-cell autonomously regulates stem cell numbers during tissue homeostasis and regeneration in the Drosophila adult midgut. We identify its downstream target cabut, the Drosophila ortholog of mammalian KLF10/11 transcription factors, which mediates this miR-958 function by promoting paracrine enterocyte-to-stem-cell bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling. We also show that mature miR-958 levels transiently decrease in response to stress and that this decrease is required for proper stem cell expansion during tissue regeneration. In summary, we have identified a posttranscriptional mechanism that modulates BMP signaling activity within Drosophila adult intestinal tissue during both normal homeostasis and tissue regeneration to regulate intestinal stem cell numbers.

The conserved microRNA miR-210 regulates lipid metabolism and photoreceptor maintenance in the Drosophila retina

Increasing evidence suggests that miRNAs play important regulatory roles in the nervous system. However, the molecular mechanisms of how specific miRNAs affect neuronal development and functions remain less well understood. In the present study, we provide evidence that the conserved microRNA miR-210 regulates lipid metabolism and prevents neurodegeneration in the Drosophila retina. miR-210 is specifically expressed in the photoreceptor neurons and other sensory organs. Genetic deletion of miR-210 leads to lipid droplet accumulation and photoreceptor degeneration in the retina. These effects are associated with abnormal activation of the Drosophila sterol regulatory element-binding protein signaling. We further identify the acetyl-coenzyme A synthetase (ACS) as one functionally important target of miR-210 in this context. Reduction of ACS in the miR-210 mutant background suppresses the neurodegeneration defects, suggesting that miR-210 acts through regulation of the ACS transcript. Together, these results reveal an unexpected role of miR-210 in controlling lipid metabolism and neuronal functions.

Better Sleep at Night: How Light Influences Sleep in Drosophila

Sleep-like states have been described in Drosophila and the mechanisms and factors that generate and define sleep-wake profiles in this model organism are being thoroughly investigated. Sleep is controlled by both circadian and homeostatic mechanisms, and environmental factors such as light, temperature, and social stimuli are fundamental in shaping and confining sleep episodes into the correct time of the day. Among environmental cues, light seems to have a prominent function in modulating the timing of sleep during the 24 h and, in this review, we will discuss the role of light inputs in modulating the distribution of the fly sleep-wake cycles. This phenomenon is of growing interest in the modern society, where artificial light exposure during the night is a common trait, opening the possibility to study Drosophila as a model organism for investigating shift-work disorders.

MicroRNA: A Key Player for the Interplay of Circadian Rhythm Abnormalities, Sleep Disorders and Neurodegenerative Diseases

Circadian rhythms are endogenous 24-h oscillators that regulate the sleep/wake cycles and the timing of biological systems to optimize physiology and behavior for the environmental day/night cycles. The systems are basically generated by transcription-translation feedback loops combined with post-transcriptional and post-translational modification. Recently, evidence is emerging that additional non-coding RNA-based mechanisms are also required to maintain proper clock function. MicroRNA is an especially important factor that plays critical roles in regulating circadian rhythm as well as many other physiological functions. Circadian misalignment not only disturbs the sleep/wake cycle and rhythmic physiological activity but also contributes to the development of various diseases, such as sleep disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. The patient with neurodegenerative diseases often experiences profound disruptions in their circadian rhythms and/or sleep/wake cycles. In addition, a growing body of recent evidence implicates sleep disorders as an early symptom of neurodegenerative diseases, and also suggests that abnormalities in the circadian system lead to the onset and expression of neurodegenerative diseases. The genetic mutations which cause the pathogenesis of familial neurodegenerative diseases have been well studied; however, with the exception of Huntington's disease, the majority of neurodegenerative diseases are sporadic. Interestingly, the dysfunction of microRNA is increasingly recognized as a cause of sporadic neurodegenerative diseases through the deregulated genes related to the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disease, some of which are the causative genes of familial neurodegenerative diseases. Here we review the interplay of circadian rhythm disruption, sleep disorders and neurodegenerative disease, and its relation to microRNA, a key regulator of cellular processes.

A journey into the world of insect lipid metabolism

Lipid metabolism is fundamental to life. In insects, it is critical, during reproduction, flight, starvation, and diapause. The coordination center for insect lipid metabolism is the fat body, which is analogous to the vertebrate adipose tissue and liver. Fat body contains various different cell types; however, adipocytes and oenocytes are the primary cells related to lipid metabolism. Lipid metabolism starts with the hydrolysis of dietary lipids, absorption of lipid monomers, followed by lipid transport from midgut to the fat body, lipogenesis or lipolysis in the fat body, and lipid transport from fat body to other sites demanding energy. Lipid metabolism is under the control of hormones, transcription factors, secondary messengers and posttranscriptional modifications. Primarily, lipogenesis is under the control of insulin-like peptides that activate lipogenic transcription factors, such as sterol regulatory element-binding proteins, whereas lipolysis is coordinated by the adipokinetic hormone that activates lipolytic transcription factors, such as forkhead box class O and cAMP-response element-binding protein. Calcium is the primary-secondary messenger affecting lipid metabolism and has different outcomes depending on the site of lipogenesis or lipolysis. Phosphorylation is central to lipid metabolism and multiple phosphorylases are involved in lipid accumulation or hydrolysis. Although most of the knowledge of insect lipid metabolism comes from the studies on the model Drosophila; other insects, in particular those with obligatory or facultative diapause, also have great potential to study lipid metabolism. The use of these models would significantly improve our knowledge of insect lipid metabolism.