Endo-siRNAs in C. elegans spermatogenesis and their requirement for the RdRP RRF-3

ABSTRACT: Short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are a class of regulatory effectors that enforce gene silencing though formation of RNA duplexes. While progress has been made in identifying the capabilities of siRNAs in silencing of foreign RNA and transposable elements, siRNA functions in endogenous gene regulation have remained mysterious. In certain organisms, siRNA biosynthesis involves novel enzymes that act as RNA-directed RNA polymerases (RdRPs). Here we analyze the function of a C. elegans RdRP, RRF-3, during spermatogenesis. We found that loss of RRF-3 function resulted in pleiotropic defects in sperm development, and that sperm defects led to embryonic lethality. Notably, sperm nuclei in mutants of either rrf-3 or another component of the siRNA pathway, eri-1, were frequently surrounded by ectopic microtubule structures, with spindle abnormalities in a subset of the resulting embryos. Through high-throughput small RNA sequencing, we identified a population of cellular mRNAs from spermatogenic cells that appear to serve as templates for antisense siRNA synthesis. This set of genes includes the majority of genes known to have enriched expression during spermatogenesis, as well as many genes not previously known to be expressed during spermatogenesis. For a subset of these genes, we found that RRF-3 was required for effective siRNA accumulation. These and other data suggest a working model in which a major role for the RRF-3/ERI pathway is to generate siRNAs that set patterns of gene expression through feedback repression of a set of critical targets during spermatogenesis Sequencing of small RNAs from a population of C. elegans isolated spermatogenic cells and from two paired sets of rrf-3 mutant and control whole males

ORGANISM(S): Caenorhabditis elegans

SUBMITTER: Sam Gu 

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-18429 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress