Genome-Wide Functional Identification of Maximal Consensus Patterns Derived from Multiple Species piRNAs

Piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA), with 24 to 33 nt, is the largest category of small non-coding RNA (ncRNA) molecules expressed in animal cells. piRNA complexes have been revealed to both epigenetic and post-transcriptional regulation in germline and somatic tissues. Generally, they are distinct from microRNA (miRNA) in size and lack of sequence conservation. In this study, class frequency distribution identified the consensus patterns of piRNA across 9 species. To analyze the mechanism of these consensus patters, 4 target prediction tools were integrated. Furthermore, the GO-Term and pathway enrichment were approached for the functional annotation of these targets. The results indicated that two maximal conserved patterns of piRNA were identified in 8 species, whereas maximal consensus pattern in all of 9 species was TAGCTCAGTCGGTAGAGCA seemed to regulate many human genes which involved in binding and activity molecular function. Additionally, these target genes are associated with a number of rare diseases. We believe that this study will contribute to a better understanding of the functionality of piRNA cross species conserved sequences.