Single-cell CAS-seq reveals a class of short PIWI-interacting RNAs in human oocytes.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31358756.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-11312-8 and PMC identifier 6662892.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Small RNAs have important functions. However, small RNAs in primate oocytes remain unexplored. Herein, we develop CAS-seq, a single-cell small RNA sequencing method, and profile the small RNAs in human oocytes and embryos. We discover a class of ~20-nt small RNAs that are predominantly expressed in human and monkey oocytes, but not in mouse oocytes. They are specifically associated with HIWI3 (PIWIL3), whereas significantly shorter than the commonly known PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), designated as oocyte short piRNAs (os-piRNAs). Notably, the os-piRNAs in human oocytes lack 2'-O-methylation at the 3' end, a hallmark of the classic piRNAs. In addition, the os-piRNAs have a strong 1U/10 A bias and are enriched on the antisense strands of recently evolved transposable elements (TEs), indicating the potential function of silencing TEs by cleavage. Therefore, our study has identified an oocyte-specific piRNA family with distinct features and provides valuable resources for studying small RNAs in primate oocytes.
Medical subject headings
- Oocytes
- RNA, Small Interfering
- Sequence Analysis, RNA
- Single-Cell Analysis