PUBLICATION

Number of inadvertent RNA targets for morpholino knockdown in Danio rerio is largely underestimated: evidence from the study of Ser/Arg-rich splicing factors

Authors
Joris, M., Schloesser, M., Baurain, D., Hanikenne, M., Muller, M., Motte, P.
ID
ZDB-PUB-170922-3
Date
2017
Source
Nucleic acids research   45: 9547-9557 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Muller, Marc
Keywords
none
Datasets
GEO:GSE98888
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian
  • Gene Knockdown Techniques
  • Microinjections
  • Morpholinos/pharmacology*
  • RNA Splice Sites
  • Serine-Arginine Splicing Factors/genetics*
  • Serine-Arginine Splicing Factors/metabolism
  • Zebrafish/embryology
  • Zebrafish/genetics*
  • Zebrafish Proteins/genetics*
  • Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism
PubMed
28934490 Full text @ Nucleic Acids Res.
Abstract
Although the involvement of Ser/Arg-rich (SR) proteins in RNA metabolism is well documented, their role in vertebrate development remains elusive. We, therefore, elected to take advantage of the zebrafish model organism to study the SR genes' functions using the splicing morpholino (sMO) microinjection and the programmable site-specific nucleases. Consistent with previous research, we revealed discrepancies between the mutant and morphant phenotypes and we show that these inconsistencies may result from a large number of unsuspected inadvertent morpholino RNA targets. While microinjection of MOs directed against srsf5a (sMOsrsf5a) led to developmental defects, the corresponding homozygous mutants did not display any phenotypic traits. Furthermore, microinjection of sMOsrsf5a into srsf5a-/- led to the previously observed morphant phenotype. Similar findings were observed for other SR genes. sMOsrsf5a alternative target genes were identified using deep mRNA sequencing. We uncovered that only 11 consecutive bases complementary to sMOsrsf5a are sufficient for binding and subsequent blocking of splice sites. In addition, we observed that sMOsrsf5a secondary targets can be reduced by increasing embryos growth temperature after microinjection. Our data contribute to the debate about MO specificity, efficacy and the number of unknown targeted sequences.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Show all Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping