Stable Heritable Germline Silencing Directs Somatic Silencing at an Endogenous Locus.

ABSTRACT: The importance of transgenerationally inherited epigenetic states to organismal fitness remains unknown as well-documented examples are often not amenable to mechanistic analysis or rely on artificial reporter loci. Here we describe an induced silenced state at an endogenous locus that persists, at 100% transmission without selection, for up to 13 generations. This unusually persistent silencing enables a detailed molecular genetic analysis of an inherited epigenetic state. We find that silencing is dependent on germline nuclear RNAi factors and post-transcriptional mechanisms. Consistent with these later observations, inheritance does not require the silenced locus, and we provide genetic evidence that small RNAs embody the inherited silencing signal. Notably, heritable germline silencing

SUBMITTER: Minkina O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5389115 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature