First Author | Murchison EP | Year | 2007 |
Journal | Genes Dev | Volume | 21 |
Issue | 6 | Pages | 682-93 |
PubMed ID | 17369401 | Mgi Jnum | J:119478 |
Mgi Id | MGI:3702259 | Doi | 10.1101/gad.1521307 |
Citation | Murchison EP, et al. (2007) Critical roles for Dicer in the female germline. Genes Dev 21(6):682-93 |
abstractText | Dicer is an essential component of RNA interference (RNAi) pathways, which have broad functions in gene regulation and genome organization. Probing the consequences of tissue-restricted Dicer loss in mice indicates a critical role for Dicer during meiosis in the female germline. Mouse oocytes lacking Dicer arrest in meiosis I with multiple disorganized spindles and severe chromosome congression defects. Oogenesis and early development are times of significant post-transcriptional regulation, with controlled mRNA storage, translation, and degradation. Our results suggest that Dicer is essential for turnover of a substantial subset of maternal transcripts that are normally lost during oocyte maturation. Furthermore, we find evidence that transposon-derived sequence elements may contribute to the metabolism of maternal transcripts through a Dicer-dependent pathway. Our studies identify Dicer as central to a regulatory network that controls oocyte gene expression programs and that promotes genomic integrity in a cell type notoriously susceptible to aneuploidy. |