2017
Akay, Alper; Domenico, Tomas Di; Suen, Kin M; Nabih, Amena; Parada, Guillermo E; Larance, Mark; Medhi, Ragini; Berkyurek, Ahmet C; Zhang, Xinlian; Wedeles, Christopher J; Rudolph, Konrad L M; Engelhardt, Jan; Hemberg, Martin; Ma, Ping; Lamond, Angus I; Claycomb, Julie M; Miska, Eric A
The Helicase Aquarius/EMB-4 Is Required to Overcome Intronic Barriers to Allow Nuclear RNAi Pathways to Heritably Silence Transcription Journal Article
In: Dev. Cell, vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 241–255.e6, 2017, ISSN: 1534-5807.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: C. elegans, epigenetic inheritance, nuclear RNAi, piRNA, Piwi, RNA processing, RNAi, splicing, transcription, transposable elements
@article{akay_helicase_2017,
title = {The Helicase Aquarius/EMB-4 Is Required to Overcome Intronic Barriers to Allow Nuclear RNAi Pathways to Heritably Silence Transcription},
author = {Alper Akay and Tomas Di Domenico and Kin M Suen and Amena Nabih and Guillermo E Parada and Mark Larance and Ragini Medhi and Ahmet C Berkyurek and Xinlian Zhang and Christopher J Wedeles and Konrad L M Rudolph and Jan Engelhardt and Martin Hemberg and Ping Ma and Angus I Lamond and Julie M Claycomb and Eric A Miska},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2017.07.002},
doi = {10.1016/j.devcel.2017.07.002},
issn = {1534-5807},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-08-01},
journal = {Dev. Cell},
volume = {42},
number = {3},
pages = {241–255.e6},
abstract = {Small RNAs play a crucial role in genome defense against transposable
elements and guide Argonaute proteins to nascent RNA transcripts to induce
co-transcriptional gene silencing. However, the molecular basis of this
process remains unknown. Here, we identify the conserved RNA helicase
Aquarius/EMB-4 as a direct and essential link between small RNA pathways
and the transcriptional machinery in Caenorhabditis elegans. Aquarius
physically interacts with the germline Argonaute HRDE-1. Aquarius is
required to initiate small-RNA-induced heritable gene silencing. HRDE-1
and Aquarius silence overlapping sets of genes and transposable elements.
Surprisingly, removal of introns from a target gene abolishes the
requirement for Aquarius, but not HRDE-1, for small RNA-dependent gene
silencing. We conclude that Aquarius allows small RNA pathways to compete
for access to nascent transcripts undergoing co-transcriptional splicing
in order to detect and silence transposable elements. Thus, Aquarius and
HRDE-1 act as gatekeepers coordinating gene expression and genome defense.},
keywords = {C. elegans, epigenetic inheritance, nuclear RNAi, piRNA, Piwi, RNA processing, RNAi, splicing, transcription, transposable elements},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Small RNAs play a crucial role in genome defense against transposable
elements and guide Argonaute proteins to nascent RNA transcripts to induce
co-transcriptional gene silencing. However, the molecular basis of this
process remains unknown. Here, we identify the conserved RNA helicase
Aquarius/EMB-4 as a direct and essential link between small RNA pathways
and the transcriptional machinery in Caenorhabditis elegans. Aquarius
physically interacts with the germline Argonaute HRDE-1. Aquarius is
required to initiate small-RNA-induced heritable gene silencing. HRDE-1
and Aquarius silence overlapping sets of genes and transposable elements.
Surprisingly, removal of introns from a target gene abolishes the
requirement for Aquarius, but not HRDE-1, for small RNA-dependent gene
silencing. We conclude that Aquarius allows small RNA pathways to compete
for access to nascent transcripts undergoing co-transcriptional splicing
in order to detect and silence transposable elements. Thus, Aquarius and
HRDE-1 act as gatekeepers coordinating gene expression and genome defense.
elements and guide Argonaute proteins to nascent RNA transcripts to induce
co-transcriptional gene silencing. However, the molecular basis of this
process remains unknown. Here, we identify the conserved RNA helicase
Aquarius/EMB-4 as a direct and essential link between small RNA pathways
and the transcriptional machinery in Caenorhabditis elegans. Aquarius
physically interacts with the germline Argonaute HRDE-1. Aquarius is
required to initiate small-RNA-induced heritable gene silencing. HRDE-1
and Aquarius silence overlapping sets of genes and transposable elements.
Surprisingly, removal of introns from a target gene abolishes the
requirement for Aquarius, but not HRDE-1, for small RNA-dependent gene
silencing. We conclude that Aquarius allows small RNA pathways to compete
for access to nascent transcripts undergoing co-transcriptional splicing
in order to detect and silence transposable elements. Thus, Aquarius and
HRDE-1 act as gatekeepers coordinating gene expression and genome defense.