EGO-1, a putative RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, is required for heterochromatin assembly on unpaired dna during C. elegans meiosis.

ABSTRACT: During meiosis in C. elegans, unpaired chromosomes and chromosomal regions accumulate high levels of histone H3 lysine 9 dimethylation (H3K9me2), a modification associated with facultative heterochromatin assembly and the resulting transcriptional silencing. Meiotic silencing of unpaired DNA may be a widely conserved genome defense mechanism. The mechanisms of meiotic silencing remain unclear, although both transcriptional and posttranscriptional processes are implicated. Cellular RNA-dependent RNA polymerases (RdRPs) function in development and RNA-mediated silencing in many species and in heterochromatin assembly in S. pombe. There are four C. elegans RdRPs, including two with known germline functions. EGO-1 is required for fertility and robust germline RNAi. RRF-3 acts genetically to re

SUBMITTER: Maine EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4098869 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature