Genes 2018, 9(2), 82; https://doi.org/10.3390/genes9020082
Re-Arrangements in the Cytoplasmic Distribution of Small RNAs Following the Maternal-to-Zygotic Transition in Drosophila Embryos
1
Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, İzmir Institute of Technology, Gülbahçeköyü, 35430 İzmir, Turkey
2
German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Dresden, Helmholtz Association, Arnoldstr. 18, 01307 Dresden, Germany
3
Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD), Technische Universität Dresden, Fetscherstr. 105, 01307 Dresden, Germany
†
Present address: Institute for Developmental Biology and Neurobiology, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Bentzelweg 3, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 30 November 2017 / Revised: 31 January 2018 / Accepted: 2 February 2018 / Published: 10 February 2018
(This article belongs to the Section Molecular Genetics and Genomics)
Abstract
Small ribonucleic acids (RNAs) are known to regulate gene expression during early development. However, the dynamics of interaction between small RNAs and polysomes during this process is largely unknown. To investigate this phenomenon, 0–1 h and 7–8 h Drosophila melanogaster embryos were fractionated on sucrose density gradients into four fractions based on A254 reading (1) translationally inactive messenger ribonucleoprotein (mRNP), (2) 60S, (3) monosome, and (4) polysome. Comparative analysis of deep-sequencing reads from fractionated and un-fractionated 0–1 h and 7–8 h embryos revealed development-specific co-sedimentation pattern of small RNAs with the cellular translation machinery. Although most micro RNAs (miRNAs) did not have a specific preference for any state of the translational machinery, we detected fraction-specific enrichment of a few miRNAs such as dme-miR-1-3p, -184-3p, 5-5p and 263-5p. More interestingly, we observed changes in the subcellular location of a subset of miRNAs in fractionated embryos despite no measurable difference in their amount in unfractionated embryos. Transposon-derived endo small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) were over-expressed in 7–8 h embryos and associated mainly with the mRNP fraction. In contrast, transposon-derived PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNA), which were more abundant in 0–1 h embryos, co-sedimented primarily with the polysome fractions. These results suggest that there appears to be a complex interplay among the small RNAs with respect to their polysome-cosedimentation pattern during early development in Drosophila melanogaster. View Full-Text
Figure 1
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).
Share & Cite This Article
MDPI and ACS Style
Cosacak, M.I.; Yiğit, H.; Kizil, C.; Akgül, B. Re-Arrangements in the Cytoplasmic Distribution of Small RNAs Following the Maternal-to-Zygotic Transition in Drosophila Embryos. Genes 2018, 9, 82.
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.