A novel class of small RNAs in mouse spermatogenic cells

  1. Shane T. Grivna1,2,4,
  2. Ergin Beyret1,4,
  3. Zhong Wang3, and
  4. Haifan Lin1,5
  1. 1 Department of Cell Biology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA;
  2. 2 Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Cancer Biology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA;
  3. 3 Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA
  1. 4

    4 These authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

Small noncoding RNAs, including small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and micro RNAs (miRNAs) of ∼21 nucleotides (nt) in length, have emerged as potent regulators of gene expression at both transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels in diverse organisms. Here we report the identification of a novel class of small RNAs in the mouse male germline termed piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs). piRNAs are ∼30 nt in length. They are expressed during spermatogenesis, mostly in spermatids. piRNAs are associated with MIWI, a spermatogenesis-specific PIWI subfamily member of the Argonaute protein family, and depend on MIWI for their biogenesis and/or stability. Furthermore, a subpopulation of piRNAs are associated with polysomes, suggesting their potential role in translational regulation.

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