Jia Ng, S.S., Zheng, R.T., Osman, I., Pek, J.W. (2018). Generation of Drosophila sisRNAs by Independent Transcription from Cognate Introns. iScience 4(): 68--75.
FlyBase ID
FBrf0240169
Publication Type
Research paper
Abstract
Although stable intronic sequence RNAs (sisRNAs) are conserved in plants and animals, their functional significance is still unclear. We identify a pool of polyadenylated maternally deposited sisRNAs in Drosophila melanogaster. These sisRNAs can be generated by independent transcription from the cognate introns. The ovary-specific poly(A) polymerase Wispy mediates the polyadenylation of maternal sisRNAs and confers their stability as maternal transcripts. A developmentally regulated sisRNA sisR-3 represses the expression of a long noncoding RNA CR44148 and is required during development. Our results expand the pool of sisRNAs and suggest that sisRNAs perform regulatory functions during development in Drosophila.
