Ramakrishna, N. B., Battistoni, G., Surani, M. A., Hannon, G. J., & Miska, E. A. (2022). Mouse primordial germ-cell-like cells lack piRNAs. Developmental Cell, 57(23), 2661-2668.e5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2022.11.004
Abstract:
PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are small RNAs bound by PIWI-clade Argonaute proteins that function to silence transposable elements (TEs). Following mouse primordial germ cell (mPGC) specification around E6.25, fetal piRNAs emerge in male gonocytes from E13.5 onward. The in vitro differentiation of mPGC-like cells (mPGCLCs) has raised the possibility of studying the fetal piRNA pathway in greater depth. However, using single-cell RNA-seq and RT-qPCR along mPGCLC differentiation, we find that piRNA pathway factors are not fully expressed in Day 6 mPGCLCs. Moreover, we do not detect piRNAs across a panel of Day 6 mPGCLC lines using small RNA-seq. Our combined efforts highlight that in vitro differentiated Day 6 mPGCLCs do not yet resemble E13.5 or later mouse gonocytes where the piRNA pathway is active. This Matters Arising paper is in response to von Meyenn et al. (2016), published in Developmental Cell. See also the correction by von Meyenn et al. published in this issue.
License type:
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Funding Info:
Wellcome/CRUK Gurdon Institute Core Facilities (core funding 203144, C6946/A24843).
E.A.M. is supported by Cancer Research UK (C13474/A18583, C6946/A14492) and the Wellcome Trust (219475/Z/19/Z, 092096/Z/10/Z).
M.A.S. holds a Wellcome Investigator Award in Science (209475/Z/17/Z).
G.J.H. is a Wellcome Trust investigator (110161/Z/15/Z), a Royal Society Wolfson Research Professor (RP130039 and RSRP\R\200001) and is supported by a Cancer Research UK award (A21143).
G.B. was a Starr Foundation fellow and was supported by a Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds PhD fellowship. N.B.R. acknowledges an A∗STAR National Science Scholarship and a research consumables grant from the University of Cambridge as part of the Wellcome Trust Developmental Mechanisms Programme.