Most microRNAs in the single-cell alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii are produced by Dicer-like 3-mediated cleavage of introns and untranslated regions of coding RNAs.

ABSTRACT: We describe here a forward genetic screen to investigate the biogenesis, mode of action, and biological function of miRNA-mediated RNA silencing in the model algal species,Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Among the mutants from this screen, there were three at Dicer-like 3 that failed to produce both miRNAs and siRNAs and others affecting diverse post-biogenesis stages of miRNA-mediated silencing. The DCL3-dependent siRNAs fell into several classes including transposon- and repeat-derived siRNAs as in higher plants. The DCL3-dependent miRNAs differ from those of higher plants, however, in that many of them are derived from mRNAs or from the introns of pre-mRNAs. Transcriptome analysis of the wild-type and dcl3 mutant strains revealed a further difference from higher plants in that the sRNAs are r

SUBMITTER: Valli AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4817775 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature