Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Originally published in Science Express on 10 April 2008
Science 23 May 2008:
Vol. 320. no. 5879, pp. 1077 - 1081
DOI: 10.1126/science.1157396
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Endogenous siRNAs Derived from Transposons and mRNAs in Drosophila Somatic Cells

Megha Ghildiyal,1* Hervé Seitz,1* Michael D. Horwich,1 Chengjian Li,1 Tingting Du,1 Soohyun Lee,2 Jia Xu,3 Ellen L.W. Kittler,4 Maria L. Zapp,4 Zhiping Weng,5 Phillip D. Zamore1{dagger}

Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) direct RNA interference (RNAi) in eukaryotes. In flies, somatic cells produce siRNAs from exogenous double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) as a defense against viral infection. We identified endogenous siRNAs (endo-siRNAs), 21 nucleotides in length, that correspond to transposons and heterochromatic sequences in the somatic cells of Drosophila melanogaster. We also detected endo-siRNAs complementary to messenger RNAs (mRNAs); these siRNAs disproportionately mapped to the complementary regions of overlapping mRNAs predicted to form double-stranded RNA in vivo. Normal accumulation of somatic endo-siRNAs requires the siRNA-generating ribonuclease Dicer-2 and the RNAi effector protein Argonaute2 (Ago2). We propose that endo-siRNAs generated by the fly RNAi pathway silence selfish genetic elements in the soma, much as Piwi-interacting RNAs do in the germ line.

1 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA.
2 Program in Bioinformatics, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
3 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
4 Program in Molecular Medicine and Center for AIDS Research, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA.
5 Program in Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA.

* These authors contributed equally to this work.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: phillip.zamore{at}umassmed.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Small RNAs derived from snoRNAs.
R. J. Taft, E. A. Glazov, T. Lassmann, Y. Hayashizaki, P. Carninci, and J. S. Mattick (2009)
RNA 15, 1233-1240
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Long noncoding RNAs: functional surprises from the RNA world.
J. E. Wilusz, H. Sunwoo, and D. L. Spector (2009)
Genes & Dev. 23, 1494-1504
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Computational and analytical framework for small RNA profiling by high-throughput sequencing.
N. Fahlgren, C. M. Sullivan, K. D. Kasschau, E. J. Chapman, J. S. Cumbie, T. A. Montgomery, S. D. Gilbert, M. Dasenko, T. W.H. Backman, S. A. Givan, et al. (2009)
RNA 15, 992-1002
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Small regulatory RNAs in neurodevelopmental disorders.
S. Chang, S. Wen, D. Chen, and P. Jin (2009)
Hum. Mol. Genet. 18, R18-R26
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Genome-wide identification of targets of the drosha-pasha/DGCR8 complex.
S. Kadener, J. Rodriguez, K. C. Abruzzi, Y. L. Khodor, K. Sugino, M. T. Marr II, S. Nelson, and M. Rosbash (2009)
RNA 15, 537-545
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
X chromosome inactivation in the absence of Dicer.
C. Kanellopoulou, S. A. Muljo, S. D. Dimitrov, X. Chen, C. Colin, K. Plath, and D. M. Livingston (2009)
PNAS 106, 1122-1127
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The evolution of RNAi as a defence against viruses and transposable elements.
D. J Obbard, K. H.J Gordon, A. H Buck, and F. M Jiggins (2009)
Phil Trans R Soc B 364, 99-115
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Genome-wide identification and analysis of small RNAs originated from natural antisense transcripts in Oryza sativa.
X. Zhou, R. Sunkar, H. Jin, J.-K. Zhu, and W. Zhang (2009)
Genome Res. 19, 70-78
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
NCBI GEO: archive for high-throughput functional genomic data.
T. Barrett, D. B. Troup, S. E. Wilhite, P. Ledoux, D. Rudnev, C. Evangelista, I. F. Kim, A. Soboleva, M. Tomashevsky, K. A. Marshall, et al. (2009)
Nucleic Acids Res. 37, D885-D890
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Small-interfering RNAs from natural antisense transcripts derived from a cellulose synthase gene modulate cell wall biosynthesis in barley.
M. A. Held, B. Penning, A. S. Brandt, S. A. Kessans, W. Yong, S. R. Scofield, and N. C. Carpita (2008)
PNAS 105, 20534-20539
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
From the Cover: Alphavirus-derived small RNAs modulate pathogenesis in disease vector mosquitoes.
K. M. Myles, M. R. Wiley, E. M. Morazzani, and Z. N. Adelman (2008)
PNAS 105, 19938-19943
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Mouse ES cells express endogenous shRNAs, siRNAs, and other Microprocessor-independent, Dicer-dependent small RNAs.
J. E. Babiarz, J. G. Ruby, Y. Wang, D. P. Bartel, and R. Blelloch (2008)
Genes & Dev. 22, 2773-2785
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Dicer-dependent microRNA pathway safeguards regulatory T cell function.
A. Liston, L.-F. Lu, D. O'Carroll, A. Tarakhovsky, and A. Y. Rudensky (2008)
J. Exp. Med. 205, 1993-2004
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)