Identification and characterization of two novel classes of small RNAs in the mouse germline: retrotransposon-derived siRNAs in oocytes and germline small RNAs in testes

• DOI: 10.1101/gad.1425706
• Publication Date: 2006-06-10T00:49:03Z
• Authors: Toshiaki Watanabe; Atsushi Takeda; Tomoyuki Tsukiyama; Kazuyuki Mise; Tetsuro Okuno; Hiroyuki Sasaki; Naojiro Minami; Hiroshi Imai
• Keywords: Retrotransposon; Argonaute; Small nucleolar RNA; RasiRNA; Piwi-interacting RNA; RNA Silencing

Small RNAs ranging in size between 18 and 30 nucleotides (nt) are found many organisms including yeasts, plants, animals. involved the regulation of gene expression through translational repression, mRNA degradation, chromatin modification. In mammals, microRNAs (miRNAs) only small that have been well characterized. Here, we identified two novel classes mouse germline. One class consists ∼20- to 24-nt interfering (siRNAs) from oocytes, which derived retroelements LINE, SINE, LTR retrotransposons. Addition retrotransposon-derived sequences 3′ untranslated region (UTR) a reporter destabilizes significantly when injected into full-grown oocytes. These results suggest retrotransposons suppressed RNAi pathway The other is 26- 30-nt germline (gsRNAs) testes. gsRNAs expressed during spermatogenesis developmentally regulated manner, mapped genome clusters, strong strand bias. features reminiscent Tetrahymena ∼23- Caenorhabditis elegans X-cluster RNAs. A conserved RNA may be present diverse