21-nt phasiRNAs direct target mRNA cleavage in rice male germ cells

Pengfei Jiang, Bi Lian, Changzhen Liu, Zeyu Fu, Yi Shen, Zhukuan Cheng () and Yijun Qi ()
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Pengfei Jiang: Center for Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University
Bi Lian: Center for Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University
Changzhen Liu: State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zeyu Fu: Center for Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University
Yi Shen: State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhukuan Cheng: State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yijun Qi: Center for Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract In grasses, phased small interfering RNAs (phasiRNAs), 21- or 24-nucleotide (nt) in length, are predominantly expressed in anthers and play a role in regulating male fertility. However, their targets and mode of action on the targets remain unknown. Here we profile phasiRNA expression in premeiotic and meiotic spikelets as well as in purified male meiocytes at early prophase I, tetrads and microspores in rice. We show that 21-nt phasiRNAs are most abundant in meiocytes at early prophase I while 24-nt phasiRNAs are more abundant in tetrads and microspores. By performing highly sensitive degradome sequencing, we find that 21-nt phasiRNAs direct target mRNA cleavage in male germ cells, especially in meiocytes at early prophase I. These targets include 435 protein-coding genes and 71 transposons that show an enrichment for carbohydrate biosynthetic and metabolic pathways. Our study provides strong evidence that 21-nt phasiRNAs act in a target-cleavage mode and may facilitate the progression of meiosis by fine-tuning carbohydrate biosynthesis and metabolism in male germ cells.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19034-y

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