IC4R002-lncRNA-2014-25517485
Contents
Project Title
Genome-wide screening and functional analysis identify a large number of long noncoding RNAs involved in the sexual reproduction of rice
The Background of This Project
- Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in a wide range of biological processes in mammals and plants. However, the systematic examination of lncRNAs in plants lags behind that in mammals. Recently, lncRNAs have been identified in Arabidopsis and wheat; however, no systematic screening of potential lncRNAs has been reported for the rice genome.
- Non-protein-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) constitute a substantial portion of transcribed sequences with structural, regulatory or unknown functions. Because of these important biological roles, ncRNAs have been of great research interest in recent years. Attention was previously given to small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs), such as microRNAs (miRNAs), which are less than 200 nucleotides in length. ncRNAs longer than 200 nucleotides (long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs)) were found to have functions associated with virtually every biological process in mammals, and these initial reports initiated a wave of research on lncRNAs that followed the path of sRNA research. Recently, lncRNAs have emerged as potent regulators, particularly in mammals. However, studies on lncRNAs in plants remain at the early stage; only a few lncRNAs have been shown to regulate plant development, especially during reproduction.
- Sexual reproduction is one of the most essential biological processes and occurs in a vast number of species. Numerous studies have been devoted to the identification of reproduction-related genes, making great progress in understanding the reproductive processes of both animals and plants. However, the complex regulatory networks involving these genes remain largely unknown. Intriguingly, many lncRNAs have recently been proven to play important roles in reproductive processes through the regulation of related genes in various species. In mammals, lncRNAs, such as Xist, H19, Kcnq1ot1, bxd and HOTAIR, have been found to be crucial for the precise control of embryogenesis. Notably, several plant lncRNAs have also been demonstrated to participate in reproductive regulation, including COLDAIR, COOLAIR, LDMAR, CsM10 and Zm401, indicating that one of the principal functions of plant lncRNAs might be to regulate plant reproduction. More interestingly, Komiya et al. found that a number of large intergenic non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs) could generate 21-nucleotide phasiRNAs, which associate with the germline-specific Argonaute (AGO) proteinMEL1 in rice, indicating that rice lncRNAs might play a role in the development of pre-meiotic germ cells. Genome-wide analysis is necessary to discover new lncRNAs and is important for the further functional analysis of these RNAs. More than 8,000 lncRNAs have been identified in humans using bioinformatic methods, and approximately 4,000 lncRNAs have been identified in mice. In plants, 6,480 transcripts have been classified as lncRNAs in Arabidopsis, and 125 putative stress-responsive lncRNAs have been identified in wheat. Although rice is a model species for plant development studies and represents a staple food for nearly half of the global population, rice lncRNAs remain poorly characterized, and no systematic screening of potential lncRNAs in the rice genome has been reported.
Plant Culture & Treatment
Figure 1 Box plots for relative phenotypic values. The median of each trait is shown as the horizontal bar in the box, and the upper and lower sides of a box represent the first and third quartile values of the distribution, respectively. Whiskers extended to 1.5 times the interquartile range (box size) or to the maximum/minimum values.
Research Findings
Labs working on this Project
- Key Laboratory of Gene Engineering of the Ministry of Education, State Key Laboratory for Biocontrol, School of Life Science, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China
Corresponding Author
- Yue-Qin Chen (lsscyq@mail.sysu.edu.cn)
