Cloning of the quail PIWI gene and characterization of PIWI binding to small RNAs

Rong Chen; Guobin Chang; Ying Zhang; Aiqin Dai; Teng Ma; Jianchao Li; Fei Zhai; Dengke Hua; Mingxiu Xia; Guohong Chen

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0051724

Cloning of the quail PIWI gene and characterization of PIWI binding to small RNAs

PLoS One. 2012;7(12):e51724. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0051724. Epub 2012 Dec 19.

Authors

Rong Chen¹, Guobin Chang, Ying Zhang, Aiqin Dai, Teng Ma, Jianchao Li, Fei Zhai, Dengke Hua, Mingxiu Xia, Guohong Chen

Affiliation

¹ College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China.

Abstract

The PIWI protein regulates gene expression at the epigenetic and post-transcriptional level with a variety of endogenous small non-coding RNAs. In poultry, the biological function of the PIWI protein and PIWI binding to small RNAs had not been determined. The present study cloned and analyzed the sequences of the PIWIL1 protein. We also characterized PIWIL1 binding to small RNAs from adult quail testis, where the PIWIL1 protein is specifically expressed. Small RNAs showed a strong peak at 24-27 nt in the testicular RNA library, mapped primarily to repeat sequences and were similar to rasiRNAs. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) were abundant in the ovarian RNA library at a peak of 22 nt.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Amino Acid Sequence
Animals
Argonaute Proteins / genetics*
Argonaute Proteins / metabolism*
Blotting, Northern
Blotting, Western
Cloning, Molecular
Gene Expression Regulation
Immunoprecipitation
Male
MicroRNAs / genetics
MicroRNAs / metabolism*
Molecular Sequence Data
Phylogeny
Quail
RNA, Small Interfering / genetics
RNA, Small Interfering / metabolism*
Spermatogenesis
Testis / metabolism*

Substances

Argonaute Proteins
MicroRNAs
RNA, Small Interfering

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31172199) (http://159.226.244.22/portal/Proj_List.asp), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK2009190), and the priority academic program development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions(http://202.119.175.131/pages/xkmd.aspx). This study was also supported by National High Technology Research and Development Program (2011AA100305). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.