Generation of Drosophila sisRNAs by Independent Transcription from Cognate Introns

Abstract

Molecular Biology; Molecular Mechanism of Gene Regulation; Developmental Biology; Transcriptomics © 2018 The Author(s)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. © 2018 The Author(s)