Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America.
PLoS Genet. 2018 Jul 16;14(7):e1007519. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1007519. eCollection 2018 Jul.
Although thousands of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA) have been identified in the genomes of higher eukaryotes, the precise function of most of them is still unclear. Here, we show that a >65 kb, male-specific, lncRNA, called male-specific abdominal (msa) is required for the development of the secondary cells of the Drosophila male accessory gland (AG). msa is transcribed from within the Drosophila bithorax complex and shares much of its sequence with another lncRNA, the iab-8 lncRNA, which is involved in the development of the central nervous system (CNS). Both lncRNAs perform much of their functions via a shared miRNA embedded within their sequences. Loss of msa, or of the miRNA it contains, causes defects in secondary cell morphology and reduces male fertility. Although both lncRNAs express the same miRNA, the phenotype in the secondary cells and the CNS seem to reflect misregulation of different targets in the two tissues.
虽然在高等真核生物的基因组中已经鉴定出了数千种长非编码 RNA（lncRNA），但它们大多数的确切功能仍不清楚。在这里，我们表明，一种 >65 kb 的、雄性特异性的 lncRNA，称为雄性特异性腹部（msa），对于果蝇雄性附腺（AG）的次级细胞的发育是必需的。msa 是从果蝇双胸复合体内部转录的，与另一种 lncRNA，iab-8 lncRNA，具有很大的序列同源性，后者参与中枢神经系统（CNS）的发育。这两个 lncRNA 通过其序列内嵌入的共享 miRNA 来执行大部分功能。msa 或其包含的 miRNA 的缺失会导致次级细胞形态缺陷，并降低雄性生育能力。尽管这两个 lncRNA 表达相同的 miRNA，但次级细胞和 CNS 中的表型似乎反映了两个组织中不同靶标的错误调控。
