Project description:It is widely accepted that long-term changes in synapse structure and function are mediated by rapid activity-dependent gene transcription and new protein synthesis. A growing amount of evidence suggests that the microRNA (miRNA) pathway plays an important role in coordinating these processes. Despite recent advances in this field, there remains a critical need to identify specific activity-regulated miRNAs as well as their key messenger RNA (mRNA) targets. To address these questions, we used the larval Drosophila melanogaster neuromuscular junction (NMJ) as a model synapse in which to identify novel miRNA-mediated mechanisms that control activity-dependent synaptic growth. First, we developed a screen to identify miRNAs differentially regulated in the larval CNS following spaced synaptic stimulation. Surprisingly, we identified five miRNAs (miRs-1, -8, -289, -314, and -958) that were significantly downregulated by activity. Neuronal misexpression of three miRNAs (miRs-8, -289, and -958) suppressed activity-dependent synaptic growth suggesting that these miRNAs control the translation of biologically relevant target mRNAs. Functional annotation cluster analysis revealed that putative targets of miRs-8 and -289 are significantly enriched in clusters involved in the control of neuronal processes including axon development, pathfinding, and growth. In support of this, miR-8 regulated the expression of a wingless 3’UTR (wg 3’ untranslated region) reporter in vitro. Wg is an important presynaptic regulatory protein required for activity-dependent axon terminal growth at the fly NMJ. In conclusion, our results are consistent with a model where key activity-regulated miRNAs are required to coordinate the expression of genes involved in activity-dependent synaptogenesis.
Project description:MicroRNAs (miRNA) are small, endogenous RNAs that regulate the expression of mRNAs posttranscriptionally. To identify miRNAs that produce twin products, we sequenced these five small RNA libraries and collected other published datasets to represent a systematic coverage of the major tissue types (head, body and sexual organs) in D. melanogaster. To survey the repression effects of twin miRs on the their targets, we dissected testes from adult flies that lacked Dm310s due to a knock-out mutation (Tang, et al. 2010) and performed an RNA-seq analysis.
Project description:Dnmt2 is a widely conserved protein, which is closely related to eukaryotic DNA methyltransferases. However, Dnmt2 shows a robust tRNA methyltransferase activity and only limited activity towards DNA. Interestingly, a recent study has provided evidence for a biologically important function of Dnmt2-dependent DNA methylation in the blood fluke Schistosoma mansoni, which seemed to contradict the weak activity of the enzyme in other organisms. We now used whole-genome bisulfite sequencing to comprehensively analyze the methylome of adult worms and could not detect any evidence for biologically relevant DNA methylation patterns. We also characterized the methylome of Drosophila melanogaster embryos and did not find any evidence for DNA methylation. Unconverted cytosine residues were detectable only at very low levels and shared many attributes with bisulfite deamination artifacts. Our results thus strongly argue against a DNA methyltransferase activity of Dnmt2 and suggest that Dnmt2-dependent phenotypes are caused by reduced tRNA methylation. Whole genome methylation analysis of D. melanogaster. Two samples were analyzed, one sample containing DNA from WT embryos, one sample containing DNA from Dnmt2-/- embryos.