Normal microRNA maturation and germ-line stem cell maintenance requires Loquacious, a double-stranded RNA-binding domain protein
Authors
Forstemann, KlausTomari, Yukihide
Du, Tingting
Vagin, Vasily V.
Denli, Ahmet M.
Bratu, Diana P.
Klattenhoff, Carla Andrea
Theurkauf, William E.
Zamore, Phillip D.
Student Authors
Tingting Du; Carla KlattenhoffUMass Chan Affiliations
Program in Molecular MedicineDepartment of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Document Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2005-05-28Keywords
Alternative Splicing; Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Animals, Genetically Modified; Base Sequence; Drosophila Proteins; Drosophila melanogaster; Female; Germ Cells; Male; MicroRNAs; Molecular Sequence Data; RNA Helicases; RNA Interference; RNA-Binding Proteins; Ribonuclease III; Stem CellsBiochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology
Life Sciences
Medicine and Health Sciences
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
microRNAs (miRNAs) are single-stranded, 21- to 23-nucleotide cellular RNAs that control the expression of cognate target genes. Primary miRNA (pri-miRNA) transcripts are transformed to mature miRNA by the successive actions of two RNase III endonucleases. Drosha converts pri-miRNA transcripts to precursor miRNA (pre-miRNA); Dicer, in turn, converts pre-miRNA to mature miRNA. Here, we show that normal processing of Drosophila pre-miRNAs by Dicer-1 requires the double-stranded RNA-binding domain (dsRBD) protein Loquacious (Loqs), a homolog of human TRBP, a protein first identified as binding the HIV trans-activator RNA (TAR). Efficient miRNA-directed silencing of a reporter transgene, complete repression of white by a dsRNA trigger, and silencing of the endogenous Stellate locus by Suppressor of Stellate, all require Loqs. In loqs(f00791) mutant ovaries, germ-line stem cells are not appropriately maintained. Loqs associates with Dcr-1, the Drosophila RNase III enzyme that processes pre-miRNA into mature miRNA. Thus, every known Drosophila RNase-III endonuclease is paired with a dsRBD protein that facilitates its function in small RNA biogenesis.Source
PLoS Biol. 2005 Jul;3(7):e236. Epub 2005 May 24. Link to article on publisher's siteDOI
10.1371/journal.pbio.0030236Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/33632PubMed ID
15918770Related Resources
Link to article in PubMedae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1371/journal.pbio.0030236