title: Pseudogene-derived small interference RNAs regulate gene expression in African Trypanosoma brucei.
abstract: Pseudogenes have been shown to acquire unique regulatory roles from more and more organisms. We report the observation of a cluster of siRNAs derived from pseudogenes of African Trypanosoma brucei using high through-put analysis. We show that these pseudogene-derived siRNAs suppress gene expression through RNA interference. The discovery that siRNAs may originate from pseudogenes and regulate gene expression in a unicellular eukaryote provides insights into the functional roles of pseudogenes and into the origin of noncoding small RNAs.
authors.affiliation: Center for Parasitic Organisms, State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yan-Zi
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.forename: Ling-Ling
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Jian-You
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: Ming-Hui
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Xue-Min
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Liang-Hu
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.forename: Francisco J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Ayala
authors.forename: Zhao-Rong
authors.initials: ZR
authors.lastname: Lun
mesh_terms: D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000235:genetics*; D017125:Genes, Protozoan; D011544:Pseudogenes / Q000235:genetics*; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000235:genetics*; D014346:Trypanosoma brucei brucei / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D034741:RNA, Small Interfering