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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are ∼22 nt non‐coding RNAs that typically bind to the 3′ UTR of target mRNAs in the cytoplasm, resulting in mRNA destabilization and translational repression. Here, we report that miRNAs can also regulate gene expression by targeting non‐coding antisense transcripts in human cells. Specifically, we show that miR‐671 directs cleavage of a circular antisense transcript of the Cerebellar Degeneration‐Related protein 1 ( CDR1 ) locus in an Ago2‐slicer‐dependent manner. The resulting downregulation of circular antisense has a concomitant decrease in CDR1 mRNA levels, independently of heterochromatin formation. This study provides the first evidence for non‐coding antisense transcripts as functional miRNA targets, and a novel regulatory mechanism involving a positive correlation between mRNA and antisense circular RNA levels. Natural antisense transcripts appear to have widespread roles in gene regulation. This study provides the first example of miRNA targeting of an antisense transcript. Nuclear miR‐671 targets and cleaves a circular antisense transcript expressed from the CDR1 locus, reducing CDR1 mRNA levels.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are ∼22‐nucleotide noncoding RNAs that can regulate gene expression by directing mRNA degradation or inhibiting productive translation. Dominant mutations in PHABULOSA ( PHB ) and PHAVOLUTA ( PHV ) map to a miR165/166 complementary site and impair miRNA‐guided cleavage of these mRNAs in vitro . Here, we confirm that disrupted miRNA pairing, not changes in PHB protein sequence, causes the developmental defects in phb‐d mutants. In planta , disrupting miRNA pairing near the center of the miRNA complementary site had far milder developmental consequences than more distal mismatches. These differences correlated with differences in miRNA‐directed cleavage efficiency in vitro , where mismatch scanning revealed more tolerance for mismatches at the center and 3′ end of the miRNA compared to mismatches to the miRNA 5′ region. In this respect, miR165/166 resembles animal miRNAs in its pairing requirements. Pairing to the 5′ portion of the small silencing RNA appears crucial regardless of the mode of post‐transcriptional repression or whether it occurs in plants or animals, supporting a model in which this region of the silencing RNA nucleates pairing to its target.

Type III CRISPR-Cas systems show the target (tg)RNA-activated indiscriminate DNA cleavage and synthesis of oligoadenylates (cOA) and a secondary signal that activates downstream nuclease effectors to exert indiscriminate RNA/DNA cleavage, and both activities are regulated in a spatiotemporal fashion. In III-B Cmr systems, cognate tgRNAs activate the two Cmr2-based activities, which are then inactivated via tgRNA cleavage by Cmr4, but how Cmr4 nuclease regulates the Cmr immunization remains to be experimentally characterized. Here, we conducted mutagenesis of Cmr4 conserved amino acids in Saccharolobus islandicus, and this revealed that Cmr4α RNase-dead (dCmr4α) mutation yields cell dormancy/death. We also found that plasmid-borne expression of dCmr4α in the wild-type strain strongly reduced plasmid transformation efficiency, and deletion of CRISPR arrays in the host genome reversed the dCmr4α inhibition. Expression of dCmr4α also strongly inhibited plasmid transformation with Cmr2αHD and Cmr2αPalm mutants, but the inhibition was diminished in Cmr2αHD,Palm. Since dCmr4α-containing effectors lack spatiotemporal regulation, this allows an everlasting interaction between crRNA and cellular RNAs to occur. As a result, some cellular RNAs, which are not effective in mediating immunity due to the presence of spatiotemporal regulation, trigger autoimmunity of the Cmr-α system in the S. islandicus cells expressing dCmr4α. Together, these results pinpoint the crucial importance of tgRNA cleavage in autoimmunity avoidance and in the regulation of immunization of type III systems.

We developed a ribonuclease for site-specific targeting and cleavage of single-stranded RNA. The engineered RNase protein was constructed by incorporating two independent functional domains, an RNase HI domain that could cleave the RNA strand in a DNA-RNA hybrid, and a domain of the RHAU protein that could selectively recognize a parallel DNA G-quadruplex (G4). The newly designed RNase first recruits a DNA guide oligonucleotide containing both a parallel G4 motif and a template sequence complementary to the target RNA. This RNase:DNA complex targets and efficiently cleaves the single-stranded RNA in a site-specific manner. A major cleavage site occurs at the RNA region that is complementary to the DNA template sequence. The newly designed RNase can serve as a simple tool for RNA manipulation and probing RNA structure.

Dicer enzymes process double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) into small RNAs that target gene silencing through the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway. Dicer enzymes are complex, multi-domain RNaseIII proteins, however structural minimalism of this protein has recently emerged in parasitic and fungal systems. The most minimal Dicer, Saccharomyces castellii Dicer1, has a single RNaseIII domain and two double stranded RNA binding domains. In the protozoan parasite Entamoeba histolytica 27nt small RNAs are abundant and mediate silencing, yet no canonical Dicer enzyme has been identified. Although EhRNaseIII does not exhibit robust dsRNA cleavage in vitro, it can process dsRNA in the RNAi-negative background of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and in conjunction with S. castellii Argonaute1 can partially reconstitute the RNAi pathway. Thus, although EhRNaseIII lacks the domain architecture of canonical or minimal Dicer enzymes, it has dsRNA processing activity that contributes to gene silencing via RNAi. Our data advance the understanding of small RNA biogenesis in Entamoeba as well as broaden the spectrum of non-canonical Dicer enzymes that contribute to the RNAi pathway.

Background The unfolded protein response (UPR) controls the protein folding capacity of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Central to this signaling pathway is the ER-resident bifunctional transmembrane kinase/endoribonuclease Ire1. The endoribonuclease (RNase) domain of Ire1 initiates a non-conventional mRNA splicing reaction, leading to the production of a transcription factor that controls UPR target genes. The mRNA splicing reaction is an obligatory step of Ire1 signaling, yet its mechanism has remained poorly understood due to the absence of substrate-bound crystal structures of Ire1, the lack of structural similarity between Ire1 and other RNases, and a scarcity of quantitative enzymological data. Here, we experimentally define the active site of Ire1 RNase and quantitatively evaluate the contribution of the key active site residues to catalysis. Results This analysis and two new crystal structures suggest that Ire1 RNase uses histidine H1061 and tyrosine Y1043 as the general acid-general base pair contributing ≥ 7.6 kcal/mol and 1.4 kcal/mol to transition state stabilization, respectively, and asparagine N1057 and arginine R1056 for coordination of the scissile phosphate. Investigation of the stem-loop recognition revealed that additionally to the stem-loops derived from the classic Ire1 substrates HAC1 and Xbp1 mRNA, Ire1 can site-specifically and rapidly cleave anticodon stem-loop (ASL) of unmodified tRNA Phe , extending known substrate specificity of Ire1 RNase. Conclusions Our data define the catalytic center of Ire1 RNase and suggest a mechanism of RNA cleavage: each RNase monomer apparently contains a separate catalytic apparatus for RNA cleavage, whereas two RNase subunits contribute to RNA stem-loop docking. Conservation of the key residues among Ire1 homologues suggests that the mechanism elucidated here for yeast Ire1 applies to Ire1 in metazoan cells, and to the only known Ire1 homologue RNase L.

A parasitic plant produces microRNAs that target host messenger RNAs, causing them to be processed into small interfering RNAs. miRNAs in plant parasitism Dodders are parasitic plants that obtain water and nutrients from the stems of their host plants, and exchange other material with their hosts, through structures called haustoria. Michael Axtell and colleagues report how haustoria mediate dodders' parasitism. Dodders accumulate many microRNAs (miRNAs) in their haustoria while infesting a host plant. These miRNAs seem to then transfer to the host, where they silence target messenger RNAs (mRNAs) through the production of secondary small interfering RNAs and mRNA cleavage. The authors also identify host proteins that are targeted by dodder miRNAs and provide evidence that such regulation of host gene expression through inter-species transfer of miRNAs is not limited to one host. Dodders ( Cuscuta spp.) are obligate parasitic plants that obtain water and nutrients from the stems of host plants via specialized feeding structures called haustoria. Dodder haustoria facilitate bidirectional movement of viruses, proteins and mRNAs between host and parasite 1 , but the functional effects of these movements are not known. Here we show that Cuscuta campestris haustoria accumulate high levels of many novel microRNAs (miRNAs) while parasitizing Arabidopsis thaliana . Many of these miRNAs are 22 nucleotides in length. Plant miRNAs of this length are uncommon, and are associated with amplification of target silencing through secondary short interfering RNA (siRNA) production 2 . Several A. thaliana mRNAs are targeted by 22-nucleotide C. campestris miRNAs during parasitism, resulting in mRNA cleavage, secondary siRNA production, and decreased mRNA accumulation. Hosts with mutations in two of the loci that encode target mRNAs supported significantly higher growth of C. campestris . The same miRNAs that are expressed and active when C. campestris parasitizes A. thaliana are also expressed and active when it infects Nicotiana benthamiana . Homologues of target mRNAs from many other plant species also contain the predicted target sites for the induced C. campestris miRNAs. These data show that C. campestris miRNAs act as trans-species regulators of host-gene expression, and suggest that they may act as virulence factors during parasitism.

The CRISPR-associated bacterial enzyme C2c2 is shown to contain two separable, distinct sites for the highly sensitive detection and cleavage of single-stranded RNA. The RNA cleaving enzyme C2c2 The programmed sequence-specific cleavage of RNA and DNA by CRISPR-associated enzymes has revolutionized genome editing. An alternative to canonical Cas9 nuclease, C2c2, was recently described. Jennifer Doudna and colleagues have probed the biochemistry of this enzyme further, and find that it contains two separable distinct sites that catalyse RNA cleavage. The authors exploit the properties of the second site to show that the enzyme can be used for highly sensitive detection and cleavage of single-stranded RNA. Bacterial adaptive immune systems use CRISPRs (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) and CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins for RNA-guided nucleic acid cleavage 1 , 2 . Although most prokaryotic adaptive immune systems generally target DNA substrates 3 , 4 , 5 , type III and VI CRISPR systems direct interference complexes against single-stranded RNA substrates 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 . In type VI systems, the single-subunit C2c2 protein functions as an RNA-guided RNA endonuclease (RNase) 9 , 10 . How this enzyme acquires mature CRISPR RNAs (crRNAs) that are essential for immune surveillance and how it carries out crRNA-mediated RNA cleavage remain unclear. Here we show that bacterial C2c2 possesses a unique RNase activity responsible for CRISPR RNA maturation that is distinct from its RNA-activated single-stranded RNA degradation activity. These dual RNase functions are chemically and mechanistically different from each other and from the crRNA-processing behaviour of the evolutionarily unrelated CRISPR enzyme Cpf1 (ref. 11 ). The two RNase activities of C2c2 enable multiplexed processing and loading of guide RNAs that in turn allow sensitive detection of cellular transcripts.

The Dicer protein generates short RNAs from double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) substrates and is critical for RNA interference and antiviral defense. Sinha et al. report structures of a Drosophila Dicer protein that shed light on its two distinct mechanisms for recognizing and cleaving substrates: adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-independent, distributive cleavage of 3′-overhang dsRNAs and ATP-dependent, processive threading of blunt-end dsRNAs. This flexibility might provide invertebrates with the optimization capabilities needed for antiviral defense. Science , this issue p. 329 Structures of a Drosophila Dicer protein reveal two distinct mechanisms recognizing and cleaving double-stranded RNA substrates. Invertebrates rely on Dicer to cleave viral double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), and Drosophila Dicer-2 distinguishes dsRNA substrates by their termini. Blunt termini promote processive cleavage, while 3′ overhanging termini are cleaved distributively. To understand this discrimination, we used cryo–electron microscopy to solve structures of Drosophila Dicer-2 alone and in complex with blunt dsRNA. Whereas the Platform-PAZ domains have been considered the only Dicer domains that bind dsRNA termini, unexpectedly, we found that the helicase domain is required for binding blunt, but not 3′ overhanging, termini. We further showed that blunt dsRNA is locally unwound and threaded through the helicase domain in an adenosine triphosphate–dependent manner. Our studies reveal a previously unrecognized mechanism for optimizing antiviral defense and set the stage for the discovery of helicase-dependent functions in other Dicers.

Rapid, inexpensive, and sensitive nucleic acid detection may aid point-of-care pathogen detection, genotyping, and disease monitoring. The RNA-guided, RNA-targeting clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) effector Cas13a (previously known as C2c2) exhibits a “collateral effect” of promiscuous ribonuclease activity upon target recognition. We combine the collateral effect of Cas13a with isothermal amplification to establish a CRISPR-based diagnostic (CRISPR-Dx), providing rapid DNA or RNA detection with attomolar sensitivity and single-base mismatch specificity. We use this Cas13a-based molecular detection platform, termed Specific High-Sensitivity Enzymatic Reporter UnLOCKing (SHERLOCK), to detect specific strains of Zika and Dengue virus, distinguish pathogenic bacteria, genotype human DNA, and identify mutations in cell-free tumor DNA. Furthermore, SHERLOCK reaction reagents can be lyophilized for cold-chain independence and long-term storage and be readily reconstituted on paper for field applications.