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Extremely stable Piwi‐induced gene silencing in Caenorhabditis elegans
Author(s) -
Luteijn Maartje J,
van Bergeijk Petra,
Kaaij Lucas J T,
Almeida Miguel Vasconcelos,
Roovers Elke F,
Berezikov Eugene,
Ketting René F
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1038/emboj.2012.213
Subject(s) - piwi interacting rna , gene silencing , biology , rna interference , caenorhabditis elegans , argonaute , rasirna , genetics , rna induced silencing complex , trans acting sirna , epigenetics , gene , rna silencing , microbiology and biotechnology , rna
In recent years, the Piwi pathway has been shown to regulate the silencing of mobile genetic elements. However, we know little about how Piwi pathways impose silencing and even less about trans ‐generational stability of Piwi‐induced silencing. We demonstrate that the Caenorhabditis elegans Piwi protein PRG‐1 can initiate an extremely stable form of gene silencing on a transgenic, single‐copy target. This type of silencing is faithfully maintained over tens of generations in the absence of a functional Piwi pathway. Interestingly, RNAi can also trigger permanent gene silencing of a single‐copy transgene and the phenomenon will be collectively referred to as RNA‐induced epigenetic silencing (RNAe). RNAe can act in trans and is dependent on endogenous RNAi factors. The involvement of factors known to act in nuclear RNAi and the fact that RNAe is accompanied by repressive chromatin marks indicate that RNAe includes a transcriptional silencing component. Our results demonstrate that, at least in C. elegans , the Piwi pathway can impose a state of gene silencing that borders on ‘permanently silent’. Such a property may be more widely conserved among Piwi pathways in different animals.