Project description:Puf3 is a RNA-binding protein, a member of the conserved Puf-protein family. Combining different functional genomics data, we have analyzed the role of Puf3 in post-transcriptional gene regulation in S. pombe. We present data on Puf3 interacting proteins and regulatory mRNA targets.
Project description:Atf1 was overexpressed in wt S. pombe cells for 24 hours and gene expression changes were analysed all samples were processed in duplicates. Gene expression in cells overexpressing ATf1 was compared with respect to the levels in control cells transformed with the empty vector.
Project description:RNA interference (RNAi) pathways are prevalent throughout the eukaryotic kingdom and well known to regulate gene expression on a post-transcriptional level in the cytoplasm. Less is known about possible functions of RNAi in the nucleus. In the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, RNAi is crucial to establish and maintain centromeric heterochromatin and functions to repress genome activity by a chromatin silencing mechanism referred to as co-transcriptional gene silencing (CTGS). Mechanistic details and the physiological relevance of CTGS are unknown. Here we show that RNAi components interact with chromatin at nuclear pores to keep stress response genes in check. We demonstrate that RNAi-mediated CTGS represses stress inducible genes by degrading mRNAs under non-induced conditions. Under chronic heat stress conditions, a Dicer thermoswitch deports Dicer to the cytoplasm, thereby disrupting CTGS and enabling expression of genes implicated in the acquisition of thermotolerance. Taken together, our work highlights a role for nuclear pores and the stress response transcription factor Atf1 in coordinating the interplay between the RNAi machinery and the S. pombe genome and uncovers a novel mode of RNAi regulation in response to an environmental cue.
