The expression of small RNAs after prg-1 mutation

Piwi-related Argonaute proteins play important roles in maintaining germline integrity and fertility and have been linked to a class of germline-enriched small RNAs termed piRNAs. Caenorhabditis elegans encodes two Piwi family proteins called PRG-1 and PRG-2, and PRG-1 interacts with the C. elegans piRNAs (21U-RNAs). Previous studies found that the prg-1 mutation causes a marked reduction in the expression of 21U-RNAs, temperature-sensitive defects in fertility and other phenotypic defects.To systematically demonstrate the function of PRG-1 on regulating small RNAs and their targets. We use recent advances in high-throughput sequencing technology to show that expression of non-coding small RNAs in six stages(embryo,L1,L2,L3,L4,young audlt) and mRNAs in four stages (L1,L2,L3,L4) after prg-1 mutation. prg-1 mutation can not only lead to a decrease in the expression of 21U-RNAs, but also cause 35~40% of miRNAs to be significantly down-regulated; approximately 3% (6.00% in L4) of protein-coding genes are differentially expressed after mutating prg-1, and 60~70% of these substantially changed protein-coding genes are up-regulated. Overall design: Examination of small RNA expression in six different developmental stages (embryo, L1, L2, L3, L4, young adult) and mRNA expression in four stages (L1,L2,L3,L4) of C. elegans prg-1 mutant (wm161) .