Remodeling of perturbed chromatin can initiate de novo transcriptional and post-transcriptional silencing.

ABSTRACT: In eukaryotes, repetitive DNA can become silenced de novo, either transcriptionally or post-transcriptionally, by processes independent of strong sequence-specific cues. The mechanistic nature of such processes remains poorly understood. We found that in the fungus Neurospora crassa, de novo initiation of both transcriptional and post-transcriptional silencing was linked to perturbed chromatin, which was produced experimentally by the aberrant activity of transcription factors at the tetO operator array. Transcriptional silencing was mediated by canonical constitutive heterochromatin. On the other hand, post-transcriptional silencing resembled repeat-induced quelling but occurred normally when homologous recombination was inactivated. All silencing of the tetO array wa

SUBMITTER: Carlier F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11295056 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature