Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
EMBO J. 2012 Oct 3;31(19):3821-32. doi: 10.1038/emboj.2012.216. Epub 2012 Aug 3.
Endogenous small interfering RNAs (endo-siRNAs) have been discovered in many organisms, including mammals. In C. elegans, depletion of germline-enriched endo-siRNAs found in complex with the CSR-1 Argonaute protein causes sterility and defects in chromosome segregation in early embryos. We discovered that knockdown of either csr-1, the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) ego-1, or the dicer-related helicase drh-3, leads to defects in histone mRNA processing, resulting in severe depletion of core histone proteins. The maturation of replication-dependent histone mRNAs, unlike that of other mRNAs, requires processing of their 3'UTRs through an endonucleolytic cleavage guided by the U7 snRNA, which is lacking in C. elegans. We found that CSR-1-bound antisense endo-siRNAs match histone mRNAs and mRNA precursors. Consistently, we demonstrate that CSR-1 directly binds to histone mRNA in an ego-1-dependent manner using biotinylated 2'-O-methyl RNA oligonucleotides. Moreover, we demonstrate that increasing the dosage of histone genes rescues the lethality associated with depletion of CSR-1 and EGO-1. These results support a positive and direct effect of RNAi on histone gene expression.
内源性小干扰 RNA(endo-siRNAs)已在许多生物体中被发现,包括哺乳动物。在秀丽隐杆线虫中,耗尽与 CSR-1 Argonaute 蛋白结合的生殖系丰富的内源性 siRNA 会导致不育,并导致早期胚胎中的染色体分离缺陷。我们发现,csr-1(RNA 依赖性 RNA 聚合酶(RdRP)ego-1)或与 dicer 相关的解旋酶 drh-3 的敲低,导致组蛋白 mRNA 加工缺陷,导致核心组蛋白严重耗竭。复制依赖性组蛋白 mRNA 的成熟与其他 mRNA 不同,需要通过 U7 snRNA 指导的内切核酸酶切割来加工其 3'UTR,而 C. elegans 中缺乏 U7 snRNA。我们发现 CSR-1 结合的反义内源性 siRNA 与组蛋白 mRNA 和 mRNA 前体匹配。一致地,我们使用生物素标记的 2'-O-甲基 RNA 寡核苷酸证明 CSR-1 以 ego-1 依赖的方式直接与组蛋白 mRNA 结合。此外,我们证明增加组蛋白基因的剂量可以挽救 CSR-1 和 EGO-1 耗尽相关的致死性。这些结果支持 RNAi 对组蛋白基因表达的积极直接影响。