TY - JOUR
T1 - Diverse Pathways Generate MicroRNA-like RNAs and Dicer-Independent Small Interfering RNAs in Fungi
AU - Lee, Heng Chi
AU - Li, Liande
AU - Gu, Weifeng
AU - Xue, Zhihong
AU - Crosthwaite, Susan K.
AU - Pertsemlidis, Alexander
AU - Lewis, Zachary A.
AU - Freitag, Michael
AU - Selker, Eric U.
AU - Mello, Craig C.
AU - Liu, Yi
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Hsing-I Ho, Haiyan Yuan, and Dr. Qinghua Liu for technical assistance. We thank Drs. Victor Ambros and Jim Carrington for insightful discussions on miRNA. This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (to Y.L., C.C.M., E.U.S., and A.P.), from the Welch Foundation (to Y.L.), and from the American Cancer Society (RSG-08-030-01-CCG) (to M.L.). Z.A.L. was supported by a fellowship from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (3295-09). C.C.M. is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2010 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2010/6/1
Y1 - 2010/6/1
N2 - A variety of small RNAs, including the Dicer-dependent miRNAs and the Dicer-independent Piwi-interacting RNAs, associate with Argonaute family proteins to regulate gene expression in diverse cellular processes. These two species of small RNA have not been found in fungi. Here, by analyzing small RNAs associated with the Neurospora Argonaute protein QDE-2, we show that diverse pathways generate miRNA-like small RNAs (milRNAs) and Dicer-independent small interfering RNAs (disiRNAs) in this filamentous fungus. Surprisingly, milRNAs are produced by at least four different mechanisms that use a distinct combination of factors, including Dicers, QDE-2, the exonuclease QIP, and an RNase III domain-containing protein, MRPL3. In contrast, disiRNAs originate from loci producing overlapping sense and antisense transcripts, and do not require the known RNAi components for their production. Taken together, these results uncover several pathways for small RNA production in filamentous fungi, shedding light on the diversity and evolutionary origins of eukaryotic small RNAs.
AB - A variety of small RNAs, including the Dicer-dependent miRNAs and the Dicer-independent Piwi-interacting RNAs, associate with Argonaute family proteins to regulate gene expression in diverse cellular processes. These two species of small RNA have not been found in fungi. Here, by analyzing small RNAs associated with the Neurospora Argonaute protein QDE-2, we show that diverse pathways generate miRNA-like small RNAs (milRNAs) and Dicer-independent small interfering RNAs (disiRNAs) in this filamentous fungus. Surprisingly, milRNAs are produced by at least four different mechanisms that use a distinct combination of factors, including Dicers, QDE-2, the exonuclease QIP, and an RNase III domain-containing protein, MRPL3. In contrast, disiRNAs originate from loci producing overlapping sense and antisense transcripts, and do not require the known RNAi components for their production. Taken together, these results uncover several pathways for small RNA production in filamentous fungi, shedding light on the diversity and evolutionary origins of eukaryotic small RNAs.
KW - PROTEINS
KW - RNA
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U2 - 10.1016/j.molcel.2010.04.005
DO - 10.1016/j.molcel.2010.04.005
M3 - Article
C2 - 20417140
AN - SCOPUS:77950929337
SN - 1097-2765
VL - 38
SP - 803
EP - 814
JO - Molecular Cell
JF - Molecular Cell
IS - 6
ER -