Project description:Transfected siRNAs and miRNAs regulate numerous transcripts that have only limited complementarity to the active strand of the RNA duplex. This process reflects natural target regulation by miRNAs, but is an unintended (“off-target”) consequence of siRNA-mediated silencing. Here we demonstrate that this unintended off-target silencing is widespread, and occurs in a manner reminiscent of target silencing by miRNAs. A high proportion of unintended transcripts silenced by siRNAs showed 3’ UTR sequence complementarity to the seed region of the siRNA. Base mismatches within the siRNA seed region reduced the set of original off-target transcripts but generated new sets of silenced transcripts with sequence complementarity to the mismatched seed sequence. An inducible shRNA silenced a subset of transcripts that were silenced by an siRNA of the same sequence, demonstrating that unintended silencing is sequence-mediated and is independent of delivery method. In all cases, off-target transcript silencing was accompanied by loss of the corresponding protein and occurred with similar dependence on siRNA concentration as silencing of the target transcript. These results demonstrate that short stretches of sequence complementarity to the seed region of the siRNA are key to the silencing of unintended transcripts, and that this limits the specificity of siRNA-mediated transcript silencing. Because these off-target events are sequence-dependent, inclusion of multiple independent siRNAs to the target of interest can help to distinguish true positives from false positives in functional genetic analyses. Keywords: siRNA, RNAi, sequence alignment, off-target, seed region
Project description:Transfected siRNAs and miRNAs regulate numerous transcripts that have only limited complementarity to the active strand of the RNA duplex. This process reflects natural target regulation by miRNAs, but is an unintended (â??off-targetâ??) consequence of siRNA-mediated silencing. Here we demonstrate that this unintended off-target silencing is widespread, and occurs in a manner reminiscent of target silencing by miRNAs. A high proportion of unintended transcripts silenced by siRNAs showed 3â?? UTR sequence complementarity to the seed region of the siRNA. Base mismatches within the siRNA seed region reduced the set of original off-target transcripts but generated new sets of silenced transcripts with sequence complementarity to the mismatched seed sequence. An inducible shRNA silenced a subset of transcripts that were silenced by an siRNA of the same sequence, demonstrating that unintended silencing is sequence-mediated and is independent of delivery method. In all cases, off-target transcript silencing was accompanied by loss of the corresponding protein and occurred with similar dependence on siRNA concentration as silencing of the target transcript. These results demonstrate that short stretches of sequence complementarity to the seed region of the siRNA are key to the silencing of unintended transcripts, and that this limits the specificity of siRNA-mediated transcript silencing. Because these off-target events are sequence-dependent, inclusion of multiple independent siRNAs to the target of interest can help to distinguish true positives from false positives in functional genetic analyses. For details, please see A.L. Jackson, et al. 2006. RNA 12(7): 1179-1187. We used consensus genelists for clustering. Please see attached tables for genelists.
Project description:In addition to silencing intended target genes, transfected siRNAs regulate numerous unintended transcripts through a mechanism in which the equivalent of a microRNA-like seed region in the siRNA recognizes complementary sequences in transcript 3' UTRs. The ability to limit such off-target effects would substantially facilitate accurate interpretation of RNA interference (RNAi) experiments and thus greatly enhance their value. We tested whether lentivirus-mediated delivery of shRNA is prone to the seed region-based off-target activity prevalent in siRNA experiments. We compared target gene silencing and overall impact on global gene expression caused by multiple 21-mer duplex sequences delivered as both transfected siRNA and lentivirus vector-expressed shRNA. At equivalent levels of target gene silencing, signatures induced by shRNAs were significantly smaller than those induced by cognate siRNAs and arose less frequently from seed region activity. Interestingly, the low level of seed-region based off-target activity exhibited by shRNAs resulted in down-regulation of transcripts that were largely distinct from those regulated by siRNAs. On the basis of these observations, we recommend lentivirus-mediated RNA interference for pathway profiling experiments that measure whole genome transcriptional readouts as well as for large-scale screens when resources for extensive follow up are limited.
Project description:Transfected siRNAs regulate numerous transcripts sharing limited complementarity to the RNA duplex. This unintended (“off-target”) silencing can hinder the use of RNAi to define gene function. Here we describe position-specific, sequence-independent chemical modifications that reduced silencing of partially-complementary transcripts by all siRNAs tested. Silencing of perfectly-matched targets was unaffected by these modifications. The chemical modification also reduced off-target phenotypes in growth inhibition studies. Key to the modification was 2’-O-methyl ribosyl substitution at position 2 in the guide strand, which reduced silencing of most off-target transcripts with complementarity to the seed region of the siRNA guide strand. The sharp position-dependence of 2’-O-methyl ribosyl modification contrasts with the broader position dependence of base pair substitutions within the seed region, suggesting a role for position 2 of the guide strand distinct from its effects on pairing to target transcripts. Keywords: Microarray analysis, chemical modification walk, dose response
Project description:22-nucleotide (nt) microRNAs (miRNAs) derived from asymmetric duplexes trigger trans-acting phased small interfering RNA (tphasiRNA) production from complementary targets. Here we investigate the efficacy of 22-nt artificial miRNA (amiRNA) mediated RNA silencing relative to conventional hairpin RNA (hpRNA) and 21-nt amiRNA mediated RNA silencing. CHALCONE SYNTHASE (CHS) was selected as a target in Arabidopsis thaliana due to the obvious and non-lethal loss of anthocyanin accumulation upon widespread RNA silencing. Over-expression of CHS in the pap1-D background facilitated visual detection of both local and systemic RNA silencing. RNA silencing was initiated in leaf tissues from hpRNA and amiRNA plant expression vectors under the control of an Arabidopsis RuBisCo small subunit 1A promoter (SSU). In this system, hpRNA expression triggered CHS silencing in most leaf tissues but not in roots or seed coats. Similarly, 21-nt amiRNA expression from symmetric miRNA/miRNA* duplexes triggered CHS silencing in all leaf tissues but not in roots or seed coats. However, 22-nt amiRNA expression from an asymmetric duplex triggered CHS silencing in all tissues, including roots and seed coats, in the majority of plant lines. This widespread CHS silencing required RNA DEPENDENT RNA POLYMERASE6 mediated accumulation of phasiRNAs from the endogenous CHS transcript. These results demonstrate the efficacy of asymmetric 22-nt amiRNA-directed RNA silencing and associated phasiRNA production and activity, in mediating widespread RNA silencing of an endogenous target gene. Asymmetric 22-nt amiRNA directed RNA silencing requires little modification of existing amiRNA technology and is expected to be effective in suppressing other genes and/or members of gene families. sRNA sequencing from aerial tissues of 3-week old plants grown on MS media
Project description:microRNAs (miRNAs) are essential components of gene regulation, but identification of miRNA targets remains a major challenge. Most target prediction and discovery relies on perfect complementarity of the miRNA seed to the 3’ untranslated region (UTR). However, it is unclear to what extent miRNAs target sites without seed matches. Here, we performed a transcriptome-wide identification of the endogenous targets of a single miRNA—miR-155—in a genetically controlled manner. We found that approximately forty percent of miR-155-dependent Argonaute binding occurs at sites without perfect seed matches. The majority of these non-canonical sites feature extensive complementarity to the miRNA seed with one mismatch. These non-canonical sites confer regulation of gene expression albeit less potently than canonical sites. Thus, non-canonical miRNA binding sites are widespread, often contain seed-like motifs, and can regulate gene expression, generating a continuum of targeting and regulation. Argonaute (AGO) HITS-CLIP Libraries generated from wild type and miR-155 knockout activated T cells.
Project description:microRNAs (miRNAs) are essential components of gene regulation, but identification of miRNA targets remains a major challenge. Most target prediction and discovery relies on perfect complementarity of the miRNA seed to the 3’ untranslated region (UTR). However, it is unclear to what extent miRNAs target sites without seed matches. Here, we performed a transcriptome-wide identification of the endogenous targets of a single miRNA—miR-155—in a genetically controlled manner. We found that approximately forty percent of miR-155-dependent Argonaute binding occurs at sites without perfect seed matches. The majority of these non-canonical sites feature extensive complementarity to the miRNA seed with one mismatch. These non-canonical sites confer regulation of gene expression albeit less potently than canonical sites. Thus, non-canonical miRNA binding sites are widespread, often contain seed-like motifs, and can regulate gene expression, generating a continuum of targeting and regulation. We used microarrays to measure changes in gene expression between activated wild type (WT) and miR-155 deficient (155KO) primary CD4 T cells. CD4 T cells were harvested from WT and miR-155 KO mice (Thai et al., 2007) and activated for 3 days in vitro. Each array is from a separate biological replicate, which are cells originating from a separate mouse.
Project description:microRNAs (miRNAs) are essential components of gene regulation, but identification of miRNA targets remains a major challenge. Most target prediction and discovery relies on perfect complementarity of the miRNA seed to the 3’ untranslated region (UTR). However, it is unclear to what extent miRNAs target sites without seed matches. Here, we performed a transcriptome-wide identification of the endogenous targets of a single miRNA—miR-155—in a genetically controlled manner. We found that approximately forty percent of miR-155-dependent Argonaute binding occurs at sites without perfect seed matches. The majority of these non-canonical sites feature extensive complementarity to the miRNA seed with one mismatch. These non-canonical sites confer regulation of gene expression albeit less potently than canonical sites. Thus, non-canonical miRNA binding sites are widespread, often contain seed-like motifs, and can regulate gene expression, generating a continuum of targeting and regulation. We used microarrays to measure changes in gene expression between activated wild type (WT) and miR-155 deficient (155KO) primary CD4 T cells.
Project description:microRNAs (miRNAs) are essential components of gene regulation, but identification of miRNA targets remains a major challenge. Most target prediction and discovery relies on perfect complementarity of the miRNA seed to the 3’ untranslated region (UTR). However, it is unclear to what extent miRNAs target sites without seed matches. Here, we performed a transcriptome-wide identification of the endogenous targets of a single miRNA—miR-155—in a genetically controlled manner. We found that approximately forty percent of miR-155-dependent Argonaute binding occurs at sites without perfect seed matches. The majority of these non-canonical sites feature extensive complementarity to the miRNA seed with one mismatch. These non-canonical sites confer regulation of gene expression albeit less potently than canonical sites. Thus, non-canonical miRNA binding sites are widespread, often contain seed-like motifs, and can regulate gene expression, generating a continuum of targeting and regulation. Argonaute (AGO) HITS-CLIP Libraries generated from wild type and miR-155 knockout activated T cells. AGO HITS-CLIP libraries were generated from activated wild type and miR-155 knockout T cells with two different 3' linkers. Libraries were generated and sequenced with an 11nt index read that contained both a 5nt multiplexing index and a 6nt degenerate barcode. Files have been demultiplexed and the 6nt degenerate barcode has been appended as the first 6 nucleotides of the read.
Project description:22-nucleotide (nt) microRNAs (miRNAs) derived from asymmetric duplexes trigger trans-acting phased small interfering RNA (tphasiRNA) production from complementary targets. Here we investigate the efficacy of 22-nt artificial miRNA (amiRNA) mediated RNA silencing relative to conventional hairpin RNA (hpRNA) and 21-nt amiRNA mediated RNA silencing. CHALCONE SYNTHASE (CHS) was selected as a target in Arabidopsis thaliana due to the obvious and non-lethal loss of anthocyanin accumulation upon widespread RNA silencing. Over-expression of CHS in the pap1-D background facilitated visual detection of both local and systemic RNA silencing. RNA silencing was initiated in leaf tissues from hpRNA and amiRNA plant expression vectors under the control of an Arabidopsis RuBisCo small subunit 1A promoter (SSU). In this system, hpRNA expression triggered CHS silencing in most leaf tissues but not in roots or seed coats. Similarly, 21-nt amiRNA expression from symmetric miRNA/miRNA* duplexes triggered CHS silencing in all leaf tissues but not in roots or seed coats. However, 22-nt amiRNA expression from an asymmetric duplex triggered CHS silencing in all tissues, including roots and seed coats, in the majority of plant lines. This widespread CHS silencing required RNA DEPENDENT RNA POLYMERASE6 mediated accumulation of phasiRNAs from the endogenous CHS transcript. These results demonstrate the efficacy of asymmetric 22-nt amiRNA-directed RNA silencing and associated phasiRNA production and activity, in mediating widespread RNA silencing of an endogenous target gene. Asymmetric 22-nt amiRNA directed RNA silencing requires little modification of existing amiRNA technology and is expected to be effective in suppressing other genes and/or members of gene families.