The USTC co-opts an ancient machinery to drive piRNA transcription in C. elegans.
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Authors
Weng, Chenchun
Kosalka, Joanna
Berkyurek, Ahmet
Feng, Xuezhu
Mao, Hui
Zeng, Chenming
Li, Wen-Jun
Yan, Yong-Hong
Dong, Meng-Qiu
Morero, Natalia Rosalía
Guang, Shouhong
Publication Date
2019-01Journal Title
Genes & development
ISSN
0890-9369
Publisher
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
Volume
33
Issue
1-2
Pages
90-102
Language
eng
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Physical Medium
Print-Electronic
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Weng, C., Kosalka, J., Berkyurek, A., Stempor, P., Feng, X., Mao, H., Zeng, C., et al. (2019). The USTC co-opts an ancient machinery to drive piRNA transcription in C. elegans.. Genes & development, 33 (1-2), 90-102. https://doi.org/10.1101/gad.319293.118
Abstract
Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) engage Piwi proteins to suppress transposons and nonself nucleic acids and maintain genome integrity and are essential for fertility in a variety of organisms. In Caenorhabditis elegans, most piRNA precursors are transcribed from two genomic clusters that contain thousands of individual piRNA transcription units. While a few genes have been shown to be required for piRNA biogenesis, the mechanism of piRNA transcription remains elusive. Here we used functional proteomics approaches to identify an upstream sequence transcription complex (USTC) that is essential for piRNA biogenesis. The USTC contains piRNA silencing-defective 1 (PRDE-1), SNPC-4, twenty-one-U fouled-up 4 (TOFU-4), and TOFU-5. The USTC forms unique piRNA foci in germline nuclei and coats the piRNA cluster genomic loci. USTC factors associate with the Ruby motif just upstream of type I piRNA genes. USTC factors are also mutually dependent for binding to the piRNA clusters and forming the piRNA foci. Interestingly, USTC components bind differentially to piRNAs in the clusters and other noncoding RNA genes. These results reveal the USTC as a striking example of the repurposing of a general transcription factor complex to aid in genome defense against transposons.
Keywords
Animals, Caenorhabditis elegans, Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins, RNA, Small Interfering, Proteomics, Gene Expression Regulation, Amino Acid Motifs, Protein Binding, Genome, Helminth
Sponsorship
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) Marie Sk?odowska-Curie actions (747666)
Cancer Research UK (18583)
Cancer Research UK (A14492)
WELLCOME TRUST (104640/Z/14/Z)
Wellcome Trust (092096/Z/10/Z)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/gad.319293.118
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/287701