TY - JOUR
T1 - Pre-meiotic 21-nucleotide reproductive phasiRNAs emerged in seed plants and diversified in flowering plants
AU - Pokhrel, Suresh
AU - Huang, Kun
AU - Bélanger, Sébastien
AU - Zhan, Junpeng
AU - Caplan, Jeffrey L.
AU - Kramer, Elena M.
AU - Meyers, Blake C.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank members of the Meyers lab for helpful discussions and Joanna Friesner for assistance with editing. We thank Mayumi Nakano for assistance with data handling. We also thank Michael Nodine and Michael Schon for providing advice for the nanoPARE experiments. This work was supported by resources from the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and the University of Missouri—Columbia and by NSF IOS award 1754097. Microscopy equipment was acquired with a shared instrumentation grant (S10 OD016361) and access was supported by the NIH-NIGMS (P20 GM103446), the NSF (IIA-1301765), and the State of Delaware.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).
PY - 2021/12/1
Y1 - 2021/12/1
N2 - Plant small RNAs are important regulatory elements that fine-tune gene expression and maintain genome integrity by silencing transposons. Reproductive organs of monocots produce abundant phased, small interfering RNAs (phasiRNAs). The 21-nt reproductive phasiRNAs triggered by miR2118 are highly enriched in pre-meiotic anthers, and have been found in multiple eudicot species, in contrast with prior reports of monocot specificity. The 24-nt reproductive phasiRNAs are triggered by miR2275, and are highly enriched during meiosis in many angiosperms. Here, we report the widespread presence of the 21-nt reproductive phasiRNA pathway in eudicots including canonical and non-canonical microRNA (miRNA) triggers of this pathway. In eudicots, these 21-nt phasiRNAs are enriched in pre-meiotic stages, a spatiotemporal distribution consistent with that of monocots and suggesting a role in anther development. Although this pathway is apparently absent in well-studied eudicot families including the Brassicaceae, Solanaceae and Fabaceae, our work in eudicots supports an earlier singular finding in spruce, a gymnosperm, indicating that the pathway of 21-nt reproductive phasiRNAs emerged in seed plants and was lost in some lineages.
AB - Plant small RNAs are important regulatory elements that fine-tune gene expression and maintain genome integrity by silencing transposons. Reproductive organs of monocots produce abundant phased, small interfering RNAs (phasiRNAs). The 21-nt reproductive phasiRNAs triggered by miR2118 are highly enriched in pre-meiotic anthers, and have been found in multiple eudicot species, in contrast with prior reports of monocot specificity. The 24-nt reproductive phasiRNAs are triggered by miR2275, and are highly enriched during meiosis in many angiosperms. Here, we report the widespread presence of the 21-nt reproductive phasiRNA pathway in eudicots including canonical and non-canonical microRNA (miRNA) triggers of this pathway. In eudicots, these 21-nt phasiRNAs are enriched in pre-meiotic stages, a spatiotemporal distribution consistent with that of monocots and suggesting a role in anther development. Although this pathway is apparently absent in well-studied eudicot families including the Brassicaceae, Solanaceae and Fabaceae, our work in eudicots supports an earlier singular finding in spruce, a gymnosperm, indicating that the pathway of 21-nt reproductive phasiRNAs emerged in seed plants and was lost in some lineages.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85112688272&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-021-25128-y
DO - 10.1038/s41467-021-25128-y
M3 - Article
C2 - 34400639
AN - SCOPUS:85112688272
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 12
JO - Nature communications
JF - Nature communications
IS - 1
M1 - 4941
ER -