Processing During T Cell Development Dynamic Microrna
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Downloaded from http://www.jimmunol.org/ by guest on September 25, 2021 is online at: average * The Journal of Immunology , 18 of which you can access for free at: 2012; 188:3257-3267; Prepublished online 29 from submission to initial decision 4 weeks from acceptance to publication February 2012; doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1103175 http://www.jimmunol.org/content/188/7/3257 Dynamic MicroRNA Gene Transcription and Processing during T Cell Development Francis F. Kirigin, Kenneth Lindstedt, Maclean Sellars, Maria Ciofani, Siao Li Low, Lachlan Jones, Fiona Bell, Florencia Pauli, Richard Bonneau, Richard M. Myers, Dan R. Littman and Mark M. W. Chong J Immunol cites 47 articles Submit online. Every submission reviewed by practicing scientists ? is published twice each month by Submit copyright permission requests at: http://www.aai.org/About/Publications/JI/copyright.html Receive free email-alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up at: http://jimmunol.org/alerts http://jimmunol.org/subscription http://www.jimmunol.org/content/suppl/2012/02/29/jimmunol.110317 5.DC1 This article http://www.jimmunol.org/content/188/7/3257.full#ref-list-1 Information about subscribing to The JI No Triage! Fast Publication! Rapid Reviews! 30 days* Why • • • Material References Permissions Email Alerts Subscription Supplementary The Journal of Immunology The American Association of Immunologists, Inc., 1451 Rockville Pike, Suite 650, Rockville, MD 20852 Copyright © 2012 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc. All rights reserved. Print ISSN: 0022-1767 Online ISSN: 1550-6606. This information is current as of September 25, 2021. The Journal of Immunology Dynamic MicroRNA Gene Transcription and Processing during T Cell Development Francis F. Kirigin,*,† Kenneth Lindstedt,‡ Maclean Sellars,* Maria Ciofani,* Siao Li Low,‡ Lachlan Jones,‡ Fiona Bell,‡ Florencia Pauli,x Richard Bonneau,†,{ Richard M. Myers,x Dan R. Littman,*,‖ and Mark M. W. Chong‡,# By disrupting microRNA (miRNA) biogenesis, we previously showed that this pathway is critical for the differentiation and function of T cells. Although various cloning studies have shown that many miRNAs are expressed during T cell development, and in a dy- namic manner, it was unclear how comprehensive these earlier analyses were. We therefore decided to profile miRNA expression by next generation sequencing. Furthermore, we profiled miRNA expression starting from the hematopoietic stem cell. This analysis revealed that miRNA expression during T cell development is extremely dynamic, with 645 miRNAs sequenced, and the expression of some varying by as much as 3 orders of magnitude. Furthermore, changes in precursor processing led to altered mature miRNA Downloaded from sequences. We also analyzed the structures of the primary miRNA transcripts expressed in T cells and found that many were ex- tremely long. The longest was pri–mir-29b-1/29a at ∼168 kb. All the long pri-miRNAs also displayed extensive splicing. Our findings indicate that miRNA expression during T cell development is both a highly dynamic and a highly regulated process. The Journal of Immunology, 2012, 188: 3257–3267. http://www.jimmunol.org/ arly hematopoiesis occurs in the bone marrow (BM), ductive rearrangement is required for progression to the DN4 stage giving rise to progenitors of all leukocyte lineages. Thy- (1). DN4 thymocytes then rapidly proliferate and upregulate both E mocyte progenitors then leave the BM to seed the thymus coreceptors as they progress to the CD4+CD8+ double-positive where definitive T cell development occurs. Early thymocytes first (DP) stage. Appropriate selection then leads to differentiation of progress through four stages termed double-negative (DN) 1–4, mature CD8+ cytotoxic T cells or CD4+ Th cells (2). because they lack expression of the CD4 and CD8 coreceptors. Much of what is understood about T cell development is centered DN3 is a key stage. TCR b rearrangement occurs here, and pro- on proteins, such as those involved in transcription and signal transduction. However, there is an increasing appreciation for the role of non-protein–coding RNAs (ncRNAs). Both long ncRNAs by guest on September 25, 2021 *Kimmel Center for Biology and Medicine, Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, (lncRNAs) (3) and small ncRNAs (4–6) are expressed in T cells, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016; †Center for Genomics but the function of most ncRNA classes remains unknown. The and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, NY 10003; ‡Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia; xHudsonAlpha best understood class is the microRNAs (miRNAs), which are Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL 35806; {Courant Institute for Mathematical ∼22-nt small RNAs that inhibit the translation of protein-coding ‖ Sciences, New York, NY 10003; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, New York messenger RNAs (mRNAs). Thousands of miRNAs have so far University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016; and #Department of Medical Biology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia been identified in plants and animals, including some 1424 and Received for publication November 7, 2011. Accepted for publication January 22, 720 in humans and mice, respectively (miRBase) (7). miRNAs 2012. target protein-coding mRNAs via incomplete base pairings (8). This work was supported by grants from the Australian National Health and Medical Because only partial complementarity is required, numerous Research Council (637338 and 1004541; to M.M.W.C.), the National Institutes of mRNAs can be the target of each miRNA. Health (RC1 AI087266-01, RC4 AI092765-01, and PN2 EY016586-06; to R.B.), and the National Science Foundation (DBI-0820757; to R.B.) and funding from the miRNAs originate from long primary transcripts (known as pri- HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology (to F.P. and R.M.M.). M.S. and M.C. were miRNAs) containing one or more secondary stem-loop structures. It supported by postdoctoral fellowships from the Cancer Research Institute and the is from this stem loop that the mature miRNA is eventually derived. Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, respectively. M.M.W.C. is a Queen Elizabeth II Fellow of the Australian Research Council, and D.R.L. is an Investigator of the In the canonical biogenesis pathway, the intermediate “pre-miRNA” Howard Hughes Medical Institute. This work was made possible through Victorian stem loop is released from the pri-miRNA in the nucleus by the State Government Operational Infrastructure Support and Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Research Institute Infrastructure Support Scheme. microprocessor complex. At the core of this complex is the RNase III enzyme Drosha (9). The excised pre-miRNA is then exported to The sequences presented in this article have been submitted to the Gene Expression Omnibus (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/) under accession number GSE30584. the cytoplasm where it is further processed by another RNase III Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Mark M.W. Chong, Walter and enzyme complex containing Dicer, which clips off the loop struc- Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia. E-mail ture (10). This is followed by loading of the miRNA-5p:miRNA-3p address: [email protected] duplex (i.e., the two arms of the stem loop) into the RNA-induced The online version of this article contains supplemental material. silencing complex (11), at which point one strand is degraded. Abbreviations used in this article: BM, bone marrow; ChIP, chromatin immunopre- We and others have shown that Drosha and Dicer, and therefore cipitation; DN, double-negative; DP, double-positive; ITU, independent transcrip- tional unit; lncRNA, long ncRNA; LSK, Lin2Sca1+kit+; MEF, murine embryonic miRNAs, are important throughout the T cell compartment. miR- fibroblast; miRNA, microRNA; MPP, multipotent progenitor; ncRNA, non-protein– NAs are required for early thymocytes to progress through the DN coding RNA; NGS, next generation sequencing; PolII, RNA polymerase II; pri- stages (12). miRNAs are also necessary for T cell function. In miRNA, primary microRNA; seq, sequencing. particular, they maintain the suppressor program of Foxp3+ regu- + Copyright Ó 2012 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc. 0022-1767/12/$16.00 latory T cells. Mice with Foxp3 cell-specific Drosha or Dicer www.jimmunol.org/cgi/doi/10.4049/jimmunol.1103175 3258 MicroRNA DYNAMICS IN T CELLS deficiency die of a lymphoproliferative multiorgan inflammatory form as described previously (12, 23). Sequence reads were mapped to disease because of loss of suppressor function (13–15). known mature and pre-miRNAs deposited in miRBase (7). Nonmapping reads were then analyzed for potential novel miRNA species. In brief, this Compared with the posttranscriptional processing, less is known involved aligning the remaining reads to the Mus musculus genome (mm9 about the transcription of miRNA genes. This has been due, in assembly, National Center for Biotechnology Information Build 37) using large part, to a lack of information about the full-length primary Novoalign (NovoCraft V2.05.04). The genomic intervals in which novels transcript of most miRNAs, and thus, genomic databases have not reads clustered were then extracted, and the corresponding RNA was an- been able to annotate these genes. It is estimated that 30–40% of alyzed for putative secondary structure using UNAfold (24). Sequences with predicted stem-loop structure