PIWI-interacting RNAs as novel regulators of pancreatic beta-cell function [GK, wistar samples]

There is mounting evidence indicating that piRNAs are also present in somatic cells where they may accomplish additional regulatory tasks. The aim of this study was to identify the piRNAs expressed in pancreatic islets and to determine whether they are involved in the control of beta-cell activities. piRNA profiling of rat pancreatic islets was performed by microarray. We detected about 18’000 piRNAs in rat pancreatic islets, many of which were differentially expressed throughout islet of Goto-Kakizaki rats, a well-established model of Type 2 diabetes. Total RNA from adult rats pancreatic islets were extracted individually. 3 wistar rat islets samples and 3 Goto-Kakizaki rats islets samples were labeled using a RNA ligase method and were hybridized onto the piRNA Array in Agilent’s SureHyb Hybridization Chambers. The arrays were scanned by the Agilent Scanner G2505C.