RNAi mediates post-transcriptional repression of gene expression in fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.
RNA interference (RNAi) is a gene silencing mechanism conserved from fungi to mammals. Small interfering RNAs are products and mediators of the RNAi pathway and act as specificity factors in recruiting effector complexes. The Schizosaccharomyces pombe genome encodes one of each of the core RNAi proteins, Dicer, Argonaute and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (dcr1, ago1, rdp1). Even though the function of RNAi in heterochromatin assembly in S. pombe is established, its role in controlling gene expression is elusive. Here, we report the identification of small RNAs mapped anti-sense to protein coding genes in fission yeast. We demonstrate that these genes are up-regulated at the protein level in RNAi mutants, while their mRNA levels are not significantly changed. We show that the repression by RNAi is not a result of heterochromatin formation. Thus, we conclude that RNAi is involved in post-transcriptional gene silencing in S. pombe.
Center for Biosciences, Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge 141-83, Sweden; School of Life Sciences, Södertörn Högskola, Huddinge 141-89, Sweden. Electronic address: smialowskaa@gmail.com.
Agata
A
Smialowska
Center for Biosciences, Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge 141-83, Sweden.
Ingela
I
Djupedal
Center for Biosciences, Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge 141-83, Sweden.
Jingwen
J
Wang
School of Life Sciences, Södertörn Högskola, Huddinge 141-89, Sweden.
Per
P
Kylsten
Center for Biosciences, Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge 141-83, Sweden.
Peter
P
Swoboda
Center for Biosciences, Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge 141-83, Sweden; School of Life Sciences, Södertörn Högskola, Huddinge 141-89, Sweden. Electronic address: Karl.Ekwall@ki.se.
Karl
K
Ekwall
D060565:Argonaute Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D015153:Blotting, Western; D004722:Endoribonucleases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D009154:Mutation; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D034622:RNA Interference; D016372:RNA, Antisense / Q000235:genetics; D012331:RNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000235:genetics; D058727:RNA, Small Untranslated / Q000235:genetics; D012324:RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D029702:Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000235:genetics*
C481643:Ago1 protein, S pombe; D060565:Argonaute Proteins; D016372:RNA, Antisense; D012331:RNA, Fungal; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D058727:RNA, Small Untranslated; D029702:Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins; D012324:RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase; C568524:Dcr1 protein, S pombe; D004722:Endoribonucleases
Fission yeast; PTGS; RNAi