Dicer-1 and R3D1-L catalyze microRNA maturation in Drosophila
Abstract
In Drosophila melanogaster, Dicer-2/R2D2 and Dicer-1 generate small interfering RNA (siRNA) and microRNA (miRNA), respectively. Here we identify a novel dsRNA-binding protein, which we named R3D1-L, that forms a stable complex with Dicer-1 in vitro and in vivo. While depletion of R3D1-L by RNAi causes accumulation of precursor miRNA (pre-miRNA) in S2 cells, recombinant R3D1-L enhances miRNA production by Dicer-1 in vitro. Furthermore, R3D1 deficiency causes miRNA-generating defect and severe sterility in male and female flies. Therefore, R3D1-L functions in concert with Dicer-1 in miRNA biogenesis and is required for reproductive development in Drosophila.
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Footnotes
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Supplemental material is available at http://www.genesdev.org.
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Article published online ahead of print. Article and publication date are at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.1334005.
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Note added in proof
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R3D1 has recently been independently identified by two other labs and named Loquacious (Förstemann et al. 2005; Saito et al. 2005).
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↵3 These authors contributed equally to this work.
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↵4 Corresponding author.
↵4 E-MAIL qliu{at}biochem.swmed.edu; FAX (214) 648-0320.
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- Accepted May 27, 2005.
- Received May 17, 2005.
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press