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Genes involved in the RNA interference pathway are differentially expressed during sea urchin development
Author(s) -
Song Jia L.,
Wessel Gary M.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
developmental dynamics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.634
H-Index - 141
eISSN - 1097-0177
pISSN - 1058-8388
DOI - 10.1002/dvdy.21353
Subject(s) - biology , rna interference , drosha , piwi interacting rna , dicer , argonaute , rna induced silencing complex , gene silencing , genetics , ribonuclease iii , trans acting sirna , rna silencing , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , microrna , gene expression , rna
RNA‐mediated interference (RNAi) is a conserved gene silencing mechanism that involves double‐stranded RNA as a signal to trigger the sequence‐specific degradation of target mRNA, resulting in posttranscriptional silencing and/or translational repression. Bioinformatic searches in the sea urchin genome database identified homologs of Drosha, DGCR5, Dicer, TRBP, Exportin‐5, and Argonautes. Quantitative, real‐time polymerase chain reaction indicated that all mRNA accumulate in eggs and in variable levels throughout early development. Whole‐mount in situ RNA hybridization showed that all of the important players of the RNAi silencing pathway have abundant mRNA accumulation in oocytes and eggs, but have distinct spatial and temporal expression patterns throughout development. Sequence analysis revealed that each of the four Argonautes examined contain conserved residues important for RNAseH activity within the Piwi domain. This study elucidated that genes involved in the RNAi silencing pathway have dynamic expression and, thus, may have regulatory roles during germ cell development and embryogenesis. Developmental Dynamics 236:3180–3190, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.