English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Studies of mammalian RNA interference (RNAi) have focused largely on the actions of microRNAs; however, in other organisms, endogenous short-interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are involved in silencing processes. To date, similar molecules have been difficult to characterize in mammalian cells. P19 is a plant suppressor of RNA silencing that binds with high affinity to siRNAs. Here, the short RNAs bound by P19 in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells have been characterized. We show that P19 selectively immunoprecipitates endogenous short RNAs from ES cells. Cloning of immunoprecipitated RNA reveals a strong selection for short RNAs that are exact matches to ribosomal RNA (rRNA), with particular short rRNA species highly enriched in P19 immunoprecipitates. Complementary strands to the enriched rRNAs were not cloned, which was surprising because P19 was previously thought to bind only siRNAs. We show that P19 binds tightly to a noncanonical dsRNA substrate comprised of a short RNA annealed to a much longer partner, such that the double-stranded region between the two is 19 base pairs long. Binding to similar endogenous species might explain the association of P19 with short rRNAs in ES cells. Finally, we show that the P19-enriched rRNAs are not involved in canonical RNAi, as they exist in the absence of Dicer and do not function as post-transcriptional gene silencers. Our results support the previous observation that endogenous siRNAs are not abundant molecules in mouse ES cells.

Characterization of the short RNAs bound by the P19 suppressor of RNA silencing in mouse embryonic stem cells