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Heterochromatic silencing of immune-related genes in glia is required for BBB integrity and normal lifespan in drosophila.

ABSTRACT: Glia and neurons face different challenges in aging and may engage different mechanisms to maintain their morphology and functionality. Here, we report that adult-onset downregulation of a Drosophila gene CG32529/GLAD led to shortened lifespan and age-dependent brain degeneration. This regulation exhibited cell type and subtype-specificity, involving mainly surface glia (comprising the BBB) and cortex glia (wrapping neuronal soma) in flies. In accordance, pan-glial knockdown of GLAD disrupted BBB integrity and the glial meshwork. GLAD expression in fly heads decreased with age, and the RNA-seq analysis revealed that the most affected transcriptional changes by RNAi-GLAD were associated with upregulation of immune-related genes. Furthermore, we conducted a series of lifespan rescue experiments and the results indicated that the profound upregulation of immune and related pathways was not the consequence but cause of the degenerative phenotypes of the RNAi-GLAD flies. Finally, we showed that GLAD encoded a heterochromatin-associating protein that bound to the promoters of an array of immune-related genes and kept them silenced during the cell cycle. Together, our findings demonstrate a previously unappreciated role of heterochromatic gene silencing in repressing immunity in fly glia, which is required for maintaining BBB and brain integrity as well as normal lifespan.

SUBMITTER: Shu S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10577565 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Heterochromatic silencing of immune-related genes in glia is required for BBB integrity and normal lifespan in drosophila.

Shu Shunpan S Jiang Mingsheng M Deng Xue X Yue Wenkai W Cao Xu X Zhang Kai K Wang Zeqing Z He Hao H Cui Jihong J Wang Qiangqiang Q Qu Kun K Fang Yanshan Y

Aging cell 20230818 10

Glia and neurons face different challenges in aging and may engage different mechanisms to maintain their morphology and functionality. Here, we report that adult-onset downregulation of a Drosophila gene CG32529/GLAD led to shortened lifespan and age-dependent brain degeneration. This regulation exhibited cell type and subtype-specificity, involving mainly surface glia (comprising the BBB) and cortex glia (wrapping neuronal soma) in flies. In accordance, pan-glial knockdown of GLAD disrupted BB ...[more]

PMID: 37594178

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Project description:BackgroundHeterochromatin is the tightly packaged dynamic region of the eukaryotic chromosome that plays a vital role in cellular processes such as mitosis and meiotic recombination. Recent experiments in Schizosaccharomyces pombe have revealed the structure of centromeric heterochromatin is affected in RNAi pathway mutants. It has also been shown in fission yeast that the heterochromatin barrier is traversed by RNA Pol II and that the passage of RNA Pol II through heterochromatin is important for heterochromatin structure. Thus, an intricate interaction between the RNAi machinery and RNA Pol II affects heterochromatin structure. However, the role of the RNAi machinery and RNA Pol II on the metazoan heterochromatin landscape is not known. This study analyses the interaction of the small RNA machinery and RNA Pol II on Drosophila heterochromatin structure.ResultsThe results in this paper show genetic and biochemical interaction between RNA Pol II (largest and second largest subunit) and small RNA silencing machinery components (dcr-2, ago1, ago2, piwi, Lip [D], aub and hls). Immunofluorescence analysis of polytene chromosomes from trans-heterozygotes of RNA Pol II and different mutations of the small RNA pathways show decreased H3K9me2 and mislocalization of Heterochromatin protein-1. A genetic analysis performed on these mutants showed a strong suppression of white-mottled4h position effect variegation. This was further corroborated by a western blot analysis and chromatin immunoprecipitation, which showed decreased H3K9me2 in trans-heterozygote mutants compared to wild type or single heterozygotes. Co-immunoprecipitation performed using Drosophila embryo extracts showed the RNA Pol II largest subunit interacting with Dcr-2 and dAGO1. Co-localization performed on polytene chromosomes showed RNA Pol II and dAGO1 overlapping at some sites.ConclusionOur experiments show a genetic and biochemical interaction between RNA Pol II (largest and second largest subunits) and the small RNA silencing machinery in Drosophila. The interaction has functional aspects in terms of determining H3K9me2 and HP-1 deposition at the chromocentric heterochromatin. Thus, RNA Pol II has an important role in establishing heterochromatin structure in Drosophila.

Dataset Information

Heterochromatic silencing of immune-related genes in glia is required for BBB integrity and normal lifespan in drosophila.

Publications

Heterochromatic silencing of immune-related genes in glia is required for BBB integrity and normal lifespan in drosophila.

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