Transcriptome-wide analysis of small RNA expression in early zebrafish development

During early vertebrate development, a large number of noncoding RNAs are maternally inherited or expressed upon activation of zygotic transcription. The exact identity, expression levels, and function during early vertebrate development for most of these noncoding RNAs remains largely unknown. miRNAs (microRNAs) and piRNAs (piwi-interacting RNAs) are two classes of small non-coding RNAs that play important roles in gene regulation during early embryonic development. Here, we utilized Illumina next generation sequencing technology to determine temporal expression patterns for both miRNAs and piRNAs during four distinct stages of early vertebrate development using zebrafish as a model system. For miRNAs, the expression patterns for 192 known miRNAs and 12 novel miRNAs within 123 different miRNA families were determined. Significant sequence variation was observed at the 5'' and 3'' ends of miRNAs with a large number of extra nucleotides added in a non-template directed manner. We also identified a large and diverse set of piRNAs expressed during early development, far beyond that expected if piRNA expression is restricted to germ cells. Our analyses represent the deepest investigation to date of small RNA expression during early vertebrate development and suggest important novel functions for small RNAs during embryogenesis. Overall design: Identify the expression of small RNAs in zebrafish embryos of four different developmental stages using high through-put sequencing