Transcriptome and sRNA profiling of Maize dcl5 CRISPR null alleles

Small RNAs play important roles during plant development by regulating transcript levels of target mRNAs, maintaining genome integrity, and reinforcing DNA methylation. Dicer-like 5 (Dcl5) is proposed to be responsible for precise slicing to generate diverse 24-nt phased, secondary small interfering RNAs (phasiRNAs), which are exceptionally abundant in meiotic anthers of maize, rice, and other grasses 1. Importance and functions of these phasiRNAs remain unclear. Here we used the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) Cas9 system to mutate Dcl5. We report that dcl5 mutants have few or no 24-nt phasiRNAs, develop short anthers and defective tapetal cells, and exhibit temperature-sensitive male fertility. We propose that DCL5 and 24-nt phasiRNAs are critical for fertility under growth regimes for optimal yield. Overall design: RNA and sRNA-seq libraries were made from meiotic anthers of multiple Maize dcl5 null alleles along with the fertile siblings.