Cargando…
MicroRNA159 Can Act as a Switch or Tuning MicroRNA Independently of Its Abundance in Arabidopsis
The efficacy of gene silencing by plant microRNAs (miRNAs) is generally assumed to be predominantly determined by their abundance. In Arabidopsis the highly abundant miRNA, miR159, acts as a molecular “switch” in vegetative tissues completely silencing the expression of two GAMYB-like genes, MYB33 a...
Autores principales: | , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2012
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3325262/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22511963 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0034751 |
_version_ | 1782229413615632384 |
---|---|
author | Alonso-Peral, Maria M. Sun, Cheng Millar, Anthony A. |
author_facet | Alonso-Peral, Maria M. Sun, Cheng Millar, Anthony A. |
author_sort | Alonso-Peral, Maria M. |
collection | PubMed |
description | The efficacy of gene silencing by plant microRNAs (miRNAs) is generally assumed to be predominantly determined by their abundance. In Arabidopsis the highly abundant miRNA, miR159, acts as a molecular “switch” in vegetative tissues completely silencing the expression of two GAMYB-like genes, MYB33 and MYB65. Here, we show that miR159 has a diminished silencing efficacy in the seed. Using reporter gene constructs, we determined that MIR159 and MYB33 are co-transcribed in the aleurone and embryo of germinating seeds. However in contrast to vegetative tissues, MYB33 is not completely silenced. Instead, miR159 appears to shape the spatio-temporal expression pattern of MYB33 during seed germination. Transcript profiling in a time course during seed germination in wild-type and a mir159 mutant in which miR159 is almost absent, revealed that transcript levels of the GAMYB-like genes were similar between these two genotypes during germination, but much higher in the mir159 mutant once germination had completed. This attenuation in the silencing of the GAMYB-like genes was not explained by a decrease in mature miR159 levels, which remained constant at all time points during seed germination. We propose that miR159 acts as a tuner of GAMYB-like levels in Arabidopsis germinating seeds and that the activity of this miRNA is attenuated in the seed compared to vegetative tissues. This implies that the efficacy of miRNA-mediated silencing is not solely determined by miRNA abundance and target transcript levels, but is being determined through additional mechanisms. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-3325262 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2012 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-33252622012-04-17 MicroRNA159 Can Act as a Switch or Tuning MicroRNA Independently of Its Abundance in Arabidopsis Alonso-Peral, Maria M. Sun, Cheng Millar, Anthony A. PLoS One Research Article The efficacy of gene silencing by plant microRNAs (miRNAs) is generally assumed to be predominantly determined by their abundance. In Arabidopsis the highly abundant miRNA, miR159, acts as a molecular “switch” in vegetative tissues completely silencing the expression of two GAMYB-like genes, MYB33 and MYB65. Here, we show that miR159 has a diminished silencing efficacy in the seed. Using reporter gene constructs, we determined that MIR159 and MYB33 are co-transcribed in the aleurone and embryo of germinating seeds. However in contrast to vegetative tissues, MYB33 is not completely silenced. Instead, miR159 appears to shape the spatio-temporal expression pattern of MYB33 during seed germination. Transcript profiling in a time course during seed germination in wild-type and a mir159 mutant in which miR159 is almost absent, revealed that transcript levels of the GAMYB-like genes were similar between these two genotypes during germination, but much higher in the mir159 mutant once germination had completed. This attenuation in the silencing of the GAMYB-like genes was not explained by a decrease in mature miR159 levels, which remained constant at all time points during seed germination. We propose that miR159 acts as a tuner of GAMYB-like levels in Arabidopsis germinating seeds and that the activity of this miRNA is attenuated in the seed compared to vegetative tissues. This implies that the efficacy of miRNA-mediated silencing is not solely determined by miRNA abundance and target transcript levels, but is being determined through additional mechanisms. Public Library of Science 2012-04-12 /pmc/articles/PMC3325262/ /pubmed/22511963 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0034751 Text en Alonso-Peral et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Alonso-Peral, Maria M. Sun, Cheng Millar, Anthony A. MicroRNA159 Can Act as a Switch or Tuning MicroRNA Independently of Its Abundance in Arabidopsis |
title | MicroRNA159 Can Act as a Switch or Tuning MicroRNA Independently of Its Abundance in Arabidopsis |
title_full | MicroRNA159 Can Act as a Switch or Tuning MicroRNA Independently of Its Abundance in Arabidopsis |
title_fullStr | MicroRNA159 Can Act as a Switch or Tuning MicroRNA Independently of Its Abundance in Arabidopsis |
title_full_unstemmed | MicroRNA159 Can Act as a Switch or Tuning MicroRNA Independently of Its Abundance in Arabidopsis |
title_short | MicroRNA159 Can Act as a Switch or Tuning MicroRNA Independently of Its Abundance in Arabidopsis |
title_sort | microrna159 can act as a switch or tuning microrna independently of its abundance in arabidopsis |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3325262/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22511963 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0034751 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT alonsoperalmariam microrna159canactasaswitchortuningmicrornaindependentlyofitsabundanceinarabidopsis AT suncheng microrna159canactasaswitchortuningmicrornaindependentlyofitsabundanceinarabidopsis AT millaranthonya microrna159canactasaswitchortuningmicrornaindependentlyofitsabundanceinarabidopsis |