Akgul, B. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2017

Deep sequencing reveals two Jurkat subpopulations with distinct miRNA profiles during camptothecin-induced apoptosis

microRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs of about 19-25 nt that regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally under various cellular conditions, including apoptosis. The miRNAs involved in modulation of apoptotic events in T cells are partially known. However, heterogeneity associated with cell lines makes it difficult to interpret gene expression signatures especially in cancer-related cell lines. Treatment of Jurkat T cell leukemia cell line with the universal apoptotic drug, camptothecin, resulted in identification of two Jurkat sub-populations: one that is sensitive to camptothecin and the other being rather intrinsically resistant. We sorted apoptotic Jurkat cells from the non-apoptotic ones prior to profiling miRNAs through deep sequencing. Our data showed that a total of 184 miRNAs were dysregulated. Interestingly, apoptotic and non-apoptotic sub-populations exhibited a distinct miRNA expression profile. In particular, 6 miRNAs were inversely expressed in these two sub-populations. The pyrosequencing results were validated by real time qPCR. Altogether these results suggest that miRNAs modulate apoptotic events in T cells and that cellular heterogeneity requires careful interpretation of miRNA expression profiles obtained from drug-treated cell lines.

molecular biology↗

bioRxiv2017

Re-arrangements in the cytoplasmic distribution of small RNAs following the maternal-to-zygotic transition in Drosophila embryos

Small RNAs are known to regulate gene expression during early development. However, the dynamics of interaction between small RNAs and polysomes during this process is largely unknown. 0-1h and 7-8h Drosophila embryos were fractionated on sucrose density gradients into four fractions based on A254 reading (1) translationally inactive messengerribonucleoprotein (mRNP); (2) 60S; (3) monosome; and (4) polysome. Comparative analysis of deep-sequencing reads from fractionated and un-fractionated 0-1h and 8-h embryos revealed development-specific co-sedimentation pattern of small RNAs with the cellular translation machinery. Although most miRNAs did not have a specific preference for any state of the translational machinery, we detected fraction-specific enrichment of some miRNAs such as miR-1-3p, -184-39, 5-5p and 263-5p. More interestingly, we observed dysregulation of a subset of miRNAs in fractionated embryos despite no measurable difference in their amount in unfractionated embryos. Transposon-derived endosiRNAs are over-expressed in 7-8h embryos and are associated mainly with the mRNP fraction. However, transposon-derived piRNAs, which are more abundant in 0-1h embryos, co-sediment primarily with the polysome fractions. These results suggest that there appears to be a complex interplay among the small RNAs with respect to their polysome-cosedimention pattern during early development in Drosophila.

developmental biology↗