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Published online 21 February 2019 Nucleic Acids Research, 2019, Vol. 47, No. 8 4255–4271 doi: 10.1093/nar/gkz130 piRNA silencing contributes to interspecies hybrid sterility and reproductive isolation in Drosophila melanogaster Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/nar/article-abstract/47/8/4255/5351611 by California Institute of Technology user on 01 May 2019 Alexei A. Kotov1, Vladimir E. Adashev1, Baira K. Godneeva1, Maria Ninova2, Aleksei S. Shatskikh1, Sergei S. Bazylev1,AlexeiA.Aravin1,2,* and Ludmila V. Olenina1,* 1Institute of Molecular Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Kurchatov Sq. 2, Moscow, 123182 Russia and 2California Institute of Technology, Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, 147–75, 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125, USA Received October 01, 2018; Revised February 12, 2019; Editorial Decision February 14, 2019; Accepted February 16, 2019 ABSTRACT genetic information from generation to generation. Game- togenesis is often disrupted in the progeny of interspecies The piRNA pathway is an adaptive mechanism crosses. Indeed, hybrid male sterility has been proposed to that maintains genome stability by repression of be the dominant type of postzygotic interspecies isolation selfish genomic elements. In the male germline in Drosophila (1,2); however, the underlying mechanistic of Drosophila melanogaster repression of Stellate causes and factors involved are poorly understood. Germ genes by piRNAs generated from Supressor of Stel- cell proliferation and differentiation and genome integrity late (Su(Ste)) locus is required for male fertility, are under control of a number of mechanisms. One of con- but both Su(Ste) piRNAs and their targets are ab- served pathways required for gametogenesis and fertility in sent in other Drosophila species. We found that Metazoa is the Piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA) pathway; D. melanogaster genome contains multiple X-linked via this pathway small piRNAs of 23–29 nucleotides (nts) non-coding genomic repeats that have sequence guide sequence-specific recognition and repression of com- plementary RNA targets (3,4). similarity to the protein-coding host gene vasa.In In the Drosophila female germline, a diverse set of piR- the male germline, these vasa-related AT-chX repeats NAs represses the activity of mobile elements thus en- produce abundant piRNAs that are antisense to vasa; suring genome integrity. Failure of piRNA silencing that however, vasa mRNA escapes silencing due to imper- causes derepression of transposable elements and is asso- fect complementarity to AT-chX piRNAs. Unexpect- ciated with accumulation of double-stranded DNA breaks edly, we discovered AT-chX piRNAs target vasa of likely caused by transposons integrations and activation Drosophila mauritiana in the testes of interspecies of the DNA damage check-point (5,6). Even when the hybrids. In the majority of hybrid flies, the testes were DNA damage pathway is non-functional due to a muta- strongly reduced in size and germline content. A mi- tion in Chk2 kinase, females with mutations that disrupt nority of hybrids maintained wild-type array of pre- the piRNA pathway are sterile. Complex mechanisms are meiotic germ cells in the testes, but in them harm- responsible for generation of diverse piRNAs that guide repression of mobile elements. Many piRNAs are gener- ful Stellate genes were derepressed due to the ab- ated from piRNA clusters, genomic regions that contain sence of Su(Ste) piRNAs, and meiotic failures were numerous fragments of transposons. piRNA clusters are observed. Thus, the piRNA pathway contributes to transcribed––often from both genomic strands––to gener- reproductive isolation between D. melanogaster and ate long non-coding RNAs that serve as precursors for ma- closely related species, causing hybrid male sterility ture piRNAs (3,4,7). After processing of precursors by Zuc- via misregulation of two different host protein fac- chini endonuclease, mature piRNAs, which usually con- tors. tain a strong bias for uridine residue at the 5-end (1U), are loaded into Piwi proteins (8,9). The recognition of INTRODUCTION complementary targets such as transposon mRNAs by the Piwi/piRNA complex leads to cleavage of the target RNA The maintenance of gametogenesis in heterosexual organ- by the intrinsic endonuclease activity of Piwi proteins. In isms is crucial for species viability and for the transfer of *To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +7 499 196 0809; Email: olenina [email protected] Correspondence may also be addressed to Alexei A. Aravin. Tel: +7 499 196 0015, +1 626 395 4297; Email: [email protected] C The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact [email protected] 4256 Nucleic Acids Research, 2019, Vol. 47, No. 8 addition to the RNAi pathway, which causes complete tar- melanogaster but that are absent from the genomes of get degradation, the ping-pong mechanism generates new, closely related Drosophila species. The AT-chX repeats have so-called secondary, piRNAs from processed target. Sec- homology to the fourth and fifth exons of vasa, they are ex- ondary piRNAs generated through ping-pong have a strong pressed from both genomic strands in developing sperma- bias for adenine at position 10, 10A (7,10). Thus, generation tocytes, and they produce abundant piRNAs. However, we of secondary piRNAs provides a clear sign of RNAs tar- found no evidence that AT-chX piRNAs, which have ∼76% vasa vasa geted by piRNA pathway. The feed-forward mechanism of identity to sequence, are able to repress expres- Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/nar/article-abstract/47/8/4255/5351611 by California Institute of Technology user on 01 May 2019 the ping-pong cycle is believed to amplify piRNAs that tar- sion in the testes of D. melanogaster. In contrast, AT-chX get active transposons thus fine-tuning piRNA populations piRNAs produced from the D. melanogaster genome have to meet cellular needs. ∼90% identify with the vasa allele of D. mauritiana and se- Several studies have reported that in Drosophila, piR- lectively silence its expression in the testes of interspecies NAs can also control the expression of host protein-coding hybrids. The majority of hybrid testes maintain a few germ genes. For example, piRNAs derived from the 3 untrans- cells and are strongly reduced in size compared to parent lated region (3-UTR)ofthetj gene repress the fasciclin III flies. We also found a strong derepression of Stellate genes gene in follicle cells of the Drosophila ovary (11), while piR- in the minor cohort of hybrid testes with perfect germline NAs from the AT-chX locus target vasa mRNA in germ content that lacks the Su(Ste) locus. Overall, our results cells of the testes (12,13). The piRNA-dependent decay of suggest that piRNA and mRNA sequences are fine-tuned numerous maternal mRNAs occurs during the maternal- to each other in each species to ensure silencing of proper to-zygotic transition in early embryos (14), and piRNA- targets and to avoid inappropriate repression. Accordingly, mediated repression of differentiation factor Cbl is involved the piRNA pathway contributes to the reproductive isola- in the self-renewal of germline stem cells (15). The piRNA tion of D. melanogaster from closely related species via dys- pathway is also reported to control the maintenance and regulation of at least two different protein factors. differentiation of germline stem cells through regulation of c-Fos mRNA in somatic niche cells (16). In most of these MATERIALS AND METHODS cases, piRNAs are reported to have only a partial comple- mentarity to the proposed targets. The rules that govern Fly stocks the recognition of proper targets and discriminate against Germinal tissues of adult Drosophila males and females off-target effects are not clearly understood. Importantly, raised at 23◦C were used, unless otherwise indicated. The one study suggested that piRNA/Piwi complexes are able to Df(1)w67c23(2)y (designated as yw), Oregon R, Canton S target numerous cellular mRNAs in a nonsequence-specific and Batumi L strains were used as wild-type strains of manner (17). D. melanogaster. Strains carrying spindle-E (spn-E) mu- While the majority of studies of the piRNA pathway in tations were ru1 st1 spn-E1 e1 ca1/TM3, Sb1 es spn-E1, Drosophila were focused on the female germline, the piRNA and ru1 st1 spn-Ehls3987 e1 ca1/TM3, Sb1 es. aub mu- pathway is also active in the testes. In fact, piRNA silencing tants were aubQC42/CyO and aubHN2/CyO. We also used was first demonstrated in testes (18–20). The major source a piwi2/piwi3 heteroallelic combination. Heterozygous sib- of piRNAs in the testes is the Y-linked Supressor of Stellate lings (+/−) were used as wild-type controls because they (Su(Ste)) locus that produces piRNAs that target X-linked have closely related genetic background to flies carrying het- repetitive Stellate genes. Each Stellate repeat encodes a pro- eroallelic mutation combinations. tein with a homology to the regulatory subunit of protein ki- Drosophila sechellia, Drosophila mauritiana and nase CkII; however, Stellates are not expressed in wild-type Drosophila erecta stocks were obtained from the Gif- males (21–23). Derepression of Stellates due to deletion of sur-Yvette CNRS Center (France) collection. Drosophila the Su(Ste) locus or failure of the piRNA pathway leads simulans stock w.501 was obtained from UC San Diego to accumulation of needle-like crystals of Stellate protein in Drosophila Species Stock Center. The Hmr1strain of D. spermatocytes, severe meiotic defects and sterility (21,23– melanogaster (#2481) was obtained from Bloomington 25).