Endomembrane-associated RSD-3 is important for RNAi induced by extracellular silencing RNA in both somatic and germ cells of Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: RNA silencing signals in C. elegans spread among cells, leading to RNAi throughout the body. During systemic spread of RNAi, membrane trafficking is thought to play important roles. Here, we show that RNAi Spreading Defective-3 (rsd-3), which encodes a homolog of epsinR, a conserved ENTH (epsin N-terminal homology) domain protein, generally participates in cellular uptake of silencing RNA. RSD-3 is previously thought to be involved in systemic RNAi only in germ cells, but we isolated several deletion alleles of rsd-3, and found that these mutants are defective in the spread of silencing RNA not only into germ cells but also into somatic cells. RSD-3 is ubiquitously expressed, and intracellularly localized to the trans-Golgi network (TGN) and endosomes. Tissue-specific rescue experiments in

SUBMITTER: Imae R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4910058 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature