GSE65070
The hub protein Loqs connects the miRNA and endo-siRNA pathways in mosquitos
Aedes aegypti mosquitoes vector several arboviruses of global health significance, including dengue viruses and chikungunya virus. RNA interference (RNAi) plays an important role in antiviral immunity, gene regulation and protection from transposable elements. Double-stranded RNA binding proteins (dsRBPs) are important for efficient RNAi; in Drosophila functional specialization of the miRNA, endo-siRNA and exo-siRNA pathway is aided by the dsRBPs Loqs-PB, Loqs-PD and R2D2, respectively. However, this functional specialization has not been investigated in other dipterans. Characterization of the gene structure, expression pattern and interactions with other RNAi/miRNA components revealed that mosquito Loqs/R3D1 isoform -PA, but not -PB interacted readily with both AeAGO1 and AeAGO2. This interaction was mapped to a 32 a.a. region predicted to be structurally similar to the unique 22 a.a. tail of Drosophila Loqs-PD. No -PD isoforms could be detected in Ae. aegypti; analysis of other dipteran genomes demonstrated that this isoform is not conserved outside of Drosophila. Overexpression experiments indicated that Loqs/R3D1-PA participates in endo-siRNA, but not exo-siRNA based silencing. We conclude that the functional specialization of Loqs-PD in Drosophila is a recently derived trait, and that in other dipterans, including the medically important mosquitoes, Loqs/R3D1-A participates in both the miRNA and endo-siRNA based pathways. Overall design: 12 samples, 3 replicates of each type of sample.  The GFP sample is the reference sample