Decreased SynMuv B gene activity in response to viral infection leads to activation of the antiviral RNAi pathway in C. elegans.

ABSTRACT: RNA interference (RNAi) mediates antiviral defense in many eukaryotes. Caenorhabditis elegans mutants that disable RNAi are more sensitive to viral infection. Many mutants that enhance RNAi have also been identified; these mutations may reveal genes that are normally down-regulated in antiviral defense. About one-third of the score of mutants that enhance RNAi are in synMuv B genes, identified 30 years ago in unrelated screens for increased growth factor signaling. Many synMuv B genes encode dREAM complex chromatin-regulatory proteins found in nearly all animals and plants. We show that mRNAs which are highly induced in synMuv B mutants are congruent with those induced by Orsay RNA virus infection, suggesting that the enhanced RNAi of synMuv B mutants may also be triggered by down-regulati

SUBMITTER: Seetharaman A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11778786 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature