Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2022
The miRNome function transitions from regulating developmental genes to transposable elements during pollen maturation
Oliver Velasco, Cecilia; Annacondia, María Luz; Wang, Zhenxing; Jullien, Pauline E.; Slotkin, R. Keith; Köhler, Claudia; Martinez Arias, GermanAbstract
Animal and plant microRNAs (miRNAs) are essential for the spatio-temporal regulation of development. Together with this role, plant miRNAs have been proposed to target transposable elements (TEs) and stimulate the production of epigenetically active small interfering RNAs. This activity is evident in the plant male gamete containing structure, the male gametophyte or pollen grain. How the dual role of plant miRNAs, regulating both genes and TEs, is integrated during pollen development and which mRNAs are regulated by miRNAs in this cell type at a genome-wide scale are unknown. Here, we provide a detailed analysis of miRNA dynamics and activity during pollen development in Arabidopsis thaliana using small RNA and degradome parallel analysis of RNA end high-throughput sequencing. Furthermore, we uncover miRNAs loaded into the two main active Argonaute (AGO) proteins in the uninuclear and mature pollen grain, AGO1 and AGO5. Our results indicate that the developmental progression from microspore to mature pollen grain is characterized by a transition from miRNAs targeting developmental genes to miRNAs regulating TE activity.sRNA, PARE, and AGO-IP sequencing uncovered the role of miRNAs during pollen development, showing that miRNAs transition from regulating genes involved in development to transposable elements.Published in
Plant Cell2022, volume: 34, number: 2, pages: 784-801
Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
Authors' information
Oliver Velasco, Cecilia
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Plant Biology
Annacondia, María Luz (Annacondia, María Luz)
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Plant Biology
Wang, Zhenxing
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Plant Biology
Wang, Zhenxing
Nanjing Agricultural University
Jullien, Pauline E.
University of Bern
Slotkin, R. Keith
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Plant Biology
Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology
Martinez Arias, German (Martinez-Arias, Germán)
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Plant Biology
UKÄ Subject classification
Plant Biotechnology
Publication Identifiers
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab280
URI (permanent link to this page)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/114581