Depletion of Y associated proteins by RNAi down-regulates the Y RNA in Caenorhabditis elegans

摘要

Short non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) perform their cellular functions in ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes, which are also essential for maintaining the stability of the ncRNAs. Depletion of individual protein components of Y ribonucleoprotein (Y RNP) particles by RNA interference (RNAi) in Caenorhabditis elegans produced specific phenotypes. Northern blot also confirmed the depletion of targeted Y RNP protein component. The depletion of specific Y RNP affected expression levels of the Y RNA. Depletion of candidate associated proteins may constitute an alternative strategy when investigating ncRNA-protein interactions and ncRNA functions. Depletion of both the protein components (Ro60 and La) of Y RNP complex indicated that these associated proteins are essential for the stability of the Y RNAs in C. elegans. RNAi technique when employed directly against Y RNA did not produced any phenotype and Northern blot showed no effect on the levels of Y RNA indicating that RNAi is not effective against Y RNA in C. elegans.