Functional characterization of a 'plant-like' HYL1 homolog in the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis indicates a conserved involvement in microRNA biogenesis
- The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Abstract
While the biogenesis of microRNAs (miRNAs) in both animals and plants depends on the RNase III Dicer, its partner proteins are considered distinct for each kingdom. Nevertheless, recent discovery of homologs of Hyponastic Leaves1 (HYL1), a 'plant-specific' Dicer partner, in the metazoan phylum Cnidaria, challenges the view that miRNAs evolved convergently in animals and plants. Here we show that the HYL1 homolog Hyl1-like a (Hyl1La) is crucial for development and miRNA biogenesis in the cnidarian model Nematostella vectensis. Inhibition of Hyl1La by morpholinos resulted in metamorphosis arrest in Nematostella embryos and a significant reduction in levels of most miRNAs. Further, meta-analysis of morphants of miRNA biogenesis components, like Dicer1, shows clustering of their miRNA profiles with Hyl1La morphants. Strikingly, immunoprecipitation of Hyl1La followed by quantitative PCR revealed that in contrast to the plant HYL1, Hyl1La interacts only with precursor miRNAs and not with primary miRNAs. This was complemented by an in vitro binding assay of Hyl1La to synthetic precursor miRNA. Altogether, these results suggest that the last common ancestor of animals and plants carried a HYL1 homolog that took essential part in miRNA biogenesis and indicate early emergence of the miRNA system before plants and animals separated.
Data availability
RNA sequencing data are available at NCBI-SRA under BioProject ID PRJNA630340.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
H2020 European Research Council (637456)
- Yehu Moran
H2020 European Research Council (863809)
- Yehu Moran
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2022, Tripathi et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Functional characterization of a 'plant-like' HYL1 homolog in the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis indicates a conserved involvement in microRNA biogenesis
eLife 11:e69464.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.69464
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