Defective piRNA Processing as a Major Contributor to Spermatogenic Arrest
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PROVIDER: PRJEB94156 | ENA |
REPOSITORIES: ENA
Similar Datasets
Project description:Eukaryotic genomes harbor invading transposable elements silenced by PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) to maintain genome integrity in animal germ cells. However, whether piRNAs also regulate endogenous gene expression programs remains unclear. Here, we show that C. elegans piRNAs trigger the transcriptional silencing of hundreds of spermatogenic genes during spermatogenesis, promoting sperm differentiation and function. This silencing signal requires the piRNA-dependent small RNA biogenesis and loading into downstream nuclear effectors, which correlates with the dynamic reorganization of two distinct perinuclear biomolecular condensates present in germ cells. In addition, the silencing capacity of piRNAs is temporally counteracted by the Argonaute CSR-1, which targets and licenses spermatogenic gene transcription. The spatial and temporal overlap between these opposing small RNA pathways contributes to setting up the timing of the spermatogenic differentiation program. Thus, our work identifies a prominent role for piRNAs as direct regulators of endogenous transcriptional programs during germline development and gamete differentiation. This SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
2021-11-20 | GSE157319 | GEO
Project description:Expression profiling of mouse ing2 -/- testis vs WT reveals gene expression differences consistent with spermatogenic arrest and infertility. Ing2 is indispensable for male germ cell development in mice. While mice deficient for Ing2 were born and grew without apparent abnormalities, male, but not female, were infertile, consistent with the highest expression of Ing2 in testes in wild-type mice and in humans. Histological and DNA content analyses in Ing2-/- testes revealed a spermatogenesis arrest at meiotic phase and enhanced apoptosis associated with increased p53, resulting in a decline in mature spermatozoa, which became more severe in older age. HDAC1 accumulation and core histone deacetylation at pachytene stage were impaired in Ing2-/- testes, suggesting that the recruitment of HDAC1 by Ing2 plays a critical role in spermatogenesis. This study establishes Ing2 as a novel mammalian regulator of spermatocyte differentiation, which coordinates spermatogenesis stage-specific histone modifications. This study has implications in understanding human male infertility. Testis from WT and Ing2 KO mice at 2-3 months of age where analyzed for differences in gene expression.
2010-11-19 | E-GEOD-18610 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Eukaryotic genomes harbor invading transposable elements silenced by PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) to maintain genome integrity in animal germ cells. However, whether piRNAs also regulate endogenous gene expression programs remains unclear. Here, we show that C. elegans piRNAs trigger the transcriptional silencing of hundreds of spermatogenic genes during spermatogenesis, promoting sperm differentiation and function. This silencing signal requires the piRNA-dependent small RNA biogenesis and loading into downstream nuclear effectors, which correlates with the dynamic reorganization of two distinct perinuclear biomolecular condensates present in germ cells. In addition, the silencing capacity of piRNAs is temporally counteracted by the Argonaute CSR-1, which targets and licenses spermatogenic gene transcription. The spatial and temporal overlap between these opposing small RNA pathways contributes to setting up the timing of the spermatogenic differentiation program. Thus, our work identifies a prominent role for piRNAs as direct regulators of endogenous transcriptional programs during germline development and gamete differentiation.
2021-11-20 | GSE157317 | GEO
Project description:Eukaryotic genomes harbor invading transposable elements silenced by PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) to maintain genome integrity in animal germ cells. However, whether piRNAs also regulate endogenous gene expression programs remains unclear. Here, we show that C. elegans piRNAs trigger the transcriptional silencing of hundreds of spermatogenic genes during spermatogenesis, promoting sperm differentiation and function. This silencing signal requires the piRNA-dependent small RNA biogenesis and loading into downstream nuclear effectors, which correlates with the dynamic reorganization of two distinct perinuclear biomolecular condensates present in germ cells. In addition, the silencing capacity of piRNAs is temporally counteracted by the Argonaute CSR-1, which targets and licenses spermatogenic gene transcription. The spatial and temporal overlap between these opposing small RNA pathways contributes to setting up the timing of the spermatogenic differentiation program. Thus, our work identifies a prominent role for piRNAs as direct regulators of endogenous transcriptional programs during germline development and gamete differentiation.
2021-11-20 | GSE157316 | GEO
Project description:Eukaryotic genomes harbor invading transposable elements silenced by PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) to maintain genome integrity in animal germ cells. However, whether piRNAs also regulate endogenous gene expression programs remains unclear. Here, we show that C. elegans piRNAs trigger the transcriptional silencing of hundreds of spermatogenic genes during spermatogenesis, promoting sperm differentiation and function. This silencing signal requires the piRNA-dependent small RNA biogenesis and loading into downstream nuclear effectors, which correlates with the dynamic reorganization of two distinct perinuclear biomolecular condensates present in germ cells. In addition, the silencing capacity of piRNAs is temporally counteracted by the Argonaute CSR-1, which targets and licenses spermatogenic gene transcription. The spatial and temporal overlap between these opposing small RNA pathways contributes to setting up the timing of the spermatogenic differentiation program. Thus, our work identifies a prominent role for piRNAs as direct regulators of endogenous transcriptional programs during germline development and gamete differentiation.
2021-11-20 | GSE157318 | GEO
Project description:Expression profiling of mouse ing2 -/- testis vs WT reveals gene expression differences consistent with spermatogenic arrest and infertility. Ing2 is indispensable for male germ cell development in mice. While mice deficient for Ing2 were born and grew without apparent abnormalities, male, but not female, were infertile, consistent with the highest expression of Ing2 in testes in wild-type mice and in humans. Histological and DNA content analyses in Ing2-/- testes revealed a spermatogenesis arrest at meiotic phase and enhanced apoptosis associated with increased p53, resulting in a decline in mature spermatozoa, which became more severe in older age. HDAC1 accumulation and core histone deacetylation at pachytene stage were impaired in Ing2-/- testes, suggesting that the recruitment of HDAC1 by Ing2 plays a critical role in spermatogenesis. This study establishes Ing2 as a novel mammalian regulator of spermatocyte differentiation, which coordinates spermatogenesis stage-specific histone modifications. This study has implications in understanding human male infertility.
2010-11-19 | GSE18610 | GEO
Project description:Piwi-interacting small RNAs (piRNAs) of fetal prospermatogonia of mice have been strongly implicated in transposon control. In contrast, little is known about biogenesis and function of abundant piRNAs from adult testes expressed in late spermatocytes and round spermatids. These so-called "pachytene" piRNAs are processed from long non-coding piRNA precursors and have no defined RNA targets in the transcriptome even though their binding partner Piwi, MIWI, is essential for spermiogenesis and fertility. Here we report that 129SvJae mice lacking Maelstrom (MAEL), a conserved piRNA pathway protein, exhibit spermiogenic arrest with defects in acrosome and flagellum formation. Further analysis revealed MAEL association with RNPs containing MIWI, TDRD6, and processed intermediates of pachytene piRNA precursors of various length. Loss of MAEL causes a 10-fold drop in pachytene piRNA levels but an increase in piRNAs from abundantly expressed mRNAs. These results suggest a MAEL-dependent mechanism for the selective processing of pachytene piRNA precursor into piRNAs. Strikingly, ribosome profiling of Mael-null testes revealed that reduced piRNA production is accompanied by reduced translation of over 800 spermiogenic mRNAs including those encoding acrosome and flagellum proteins. In light of recent reports of piRNA-independent protection of translationally repressed mRNPs by MIWI and piRNA-dependent turnover of MIWI, we propose that pachytene piRNAs function by controlling the availably of MIWI for the translational repression of spermiogenic mRNAs. piRNA sequencing, RNA immunoprecipitation, and expression measurements (RNA-Seq and ribosome profiling) in wild-type and Mael -/- testes
2014-07-25 | E-GEOD-50983 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) function in the nucleus and cytoplasm of animal germ cells to suppress mobile genetic elements. In the mouse male germline, biogenesis of MIWI2-bound nuclear piRNAs depends on endonuclease activity of cytosolic MILI, but the process is poorly understood. Here we use a mouse model expressing an artificial piRNA precursor to show that MILI slicing of the precursor generates a 16-nt by-product and a pre-piRNA intermediate that requires 3ʹ end processing to mature as a new piRNA. The ability to use the slicer products requires ATPase activity of the RNA helicase MVH, as the catalytic-dead Mvh mutant mice (Mvh-/KI) fail to convert the intermediate into piRNAs, abrogating biogenesis of MIWI2 piRNAs. This results in an early arrest in spermatogenesis and de-repression of transposons. Furthermore, the mutant MVH protein is dominant-negative (Mvh+/KI) as it causes a late-spermatogenic arrest by trapping complexes containing the mysterious pachytene piRNAs and slicer products, uncovering a role for the protein beyond the embryonic germline. In contrast, we find that the ATPase activity of TDRD9 is dispensable for piRNA biogenesis, but is essential for silencing by MIWI2. Our studies implicate distinct RNA helicases in specific steps along the mammalian nuclear piRNA pathway.
2017-06-20 | GSE95580 | GEO
Project description:Piwi-interacting small RNAs (piRNAs) of fetal prospermatogonia of mice have been strongly implicated in transposon control. In contrast, little is known about biogenesis and function of abundant piRNAs from adult testes expressed in late spermatocytes and round spermatids. These so-called "pachytene" piRNAs are processed from long non-coding piRNA precursors and have no defined RNA targets in the transcriptome even though their binding partner Piwi, MIWI, is essential for spermiogenesis and fertility. Here we report that 129SvJae mice lacking Maelstrom (MAEL), a conserved piRNA pathway protein, exhibit spermiogenic arrest with defects in acrosome and flagellum formation. Further analysis revealed MAEL association with RNPs containing MIWI, TDRD6, and processed intermediates of pachytene piRNA precursors of various length. Loss of MAEL causes a 10-fold drop in pachytene piRNA levels but an increase in piRNAs from abundantly expressed mRNAs. These results suggest a MAEL-dependent mechanism for the selective processing of pachytene piRNA precursor into piRNAs. Strikingly, ribosome profiling of Mael-null testes revealed that reduced piRNA production is accompanied by reduced translation of over 800 spermiogenic mRNAs including those encoding acrosome and flagellum proteins. In light of recent reports of piRNA-independent protection of translationally repressed mRNPs by MIWI and piRNA-dependent turnover of MIWI, we propose that pachytene piRNAs function by controlling the availably of MIWI for the translational repression of spermiogenic mRNAs.
2014-07-25 | GSE50983 | GEO
Project description:BackgroundP-element-induced wimpy testis (PIWI)-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are short (21 to 35 nucleotides in length) and noncoding and are found almost exclusively in germ cells, where they regulate aberrant expression of transposable elements and postmeiotic gene expression. Critical to the processing of piRNAs is the protein poly(A)-specific RNase-like domain containing 1 (PNLDC1), which trims their 3' ends and, when disrupted in mice, causes azoospermia and male infertility.MethodsWe performed exome sequencing on DNA samples from 924 men who had received a diagnosis of nonobstructive azoospermia. Testicular-biopsy samples were analyzed by means of histologic and immunohistochemical tests, in situ hybridization, reverse-transcriptase-quantitative-polymerase-chain-reaction assay, and small-RNA sequencing.ResultsFour unrelated men of Middle Eastern descent who had nonobstructive azoospermia were found to carry mutations in PNLDC1: the first patient had a biallelic stop-gain mutation, p.R452Ter (rs200629089; minor allele frequency, 0.00004); the second, a novel biallelic missense variant, p.P84S; the third, two compound heterozygous mutations consisting of p.M259T (rs141903829; minor allele frequency, 0.0007) and p.L35PfsTer3 (rs754159168; minor allele frequency, 0.00004); and the fourth, a novel biallelic canonical splice acceptor site variant, c.607-2A→T. Testicular histologic findings consistently showed error-prone meiosis and spermatogenic arrest with round spermatids of type Sa as the most advanced population of germ cells. Gene and protein expression of PNLDC1, as well as the piRNA-processing proteins PIWIL1, PIWIL4, MYBL1, and TDRKH, were greatly diminished in cells of the testes. Furthermore, the length distribution of piRNAs and the number of pachytene piRNAs was significantly altered in men carrying PNLDC1 mutations.ConclusionsOur results suggest a direct mechanistic effect of faulty piRNA processing on meiosis and spermatogenesis in men, ultimately leading to male infertility. (Funded by Innovation Fund Denmark and others.).
| S-EPMC7615015 | biostudies-literature