A Pandas complex adapted for piRNA-guided transposon silencing and heterochromatin formation, Panx-IP-MS

ABSTRACT: The repression of transposons by the Piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA) pathway is essential to protect animal germ cells. In Drosophila ovaries, Panoramix (Panx) enforces transcriptional silencing by binding to the target-engaged Piwi-piRNA complex, although the precise mechanisms by which this occurs remain elusive. Here, we show that Panx functions together with a germline specific paralogue of a nuclear export factor, dNxf2, and its cofactor dNxt1 (p15), as a ternary complex to suppress transposon expression. Similar to Panx, dNxf2 is essential for animal fertility. Structural and functional analyses demonstrate that dNxf2 binds Panx via its UBA domain, which plays an important role in transposon silencing. Unexpectedly, dNxf2 interacts directly with dNxf1 (TAP), a general nuclear export factor. As a result, dNxf2 prevents dNxf1 from binding to the FG repeats of the nuclear pore complex, a process required for proper RNA export. Transient tethering of dNxf2 to nascent transcripts leads to their nuclear retention. Thus, dNxf2 functions in a Pandas (Panoramix dNxf2 dependent TAP/p15 silencing) complex, which counteracts the canonical RNA exporting machinery and restricts transposons to the nuclear peripheries. Our findings may have broader implications for understanding how RNA metabolism regulates epigenetic gene silencing and heterochromatin formation.

ORGANISM(S): Drosophila Melanogaster

SUBMITTER: Yang Yu  

PROVIDER: PXD014926 | iProX | Tue Aug 06 00:00:00 BST 2019

REPOSITORIES: iProX