{"database":"GEO","file_versions":[{"headers":{"Content-Type":["application/json"]},"body":{"files":{"Other":["ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/series/GSE307nnn/GSE307918/"]},"type":"primary"},"statusCodeValue":200,"statusCode":"OK"}],"scores":null,"additional":{"omics_type":["Other"],"species":["Drosophila melanogaster"],"gds_type":["Other"],"full_dataset_link":["https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/acc.cgi?acc=GSE307918"],"repository":["GEO"],"entry_type":["GSE"],"additional_accession":[]},"is_claimable":false,"name":"Hijacking pre-tRNA enables LTR-retrotransposon-initiated constitutive heterochromatin formation [LACE-seq]","description":"As a fundamental component of eukaryotic chromosomes, pericentric heterochromatin, defined by histone H3K9 methylation (H3K9me), endows specialized genomic architecture with broad functional consequences1-3. Although pericentric DNA sequences diverge among different species, they universally retain the highly conserved H3K9 trimethylation (H3K9me3) mark4-6. While H3K9me3-specific methyltransferase was identified more than 30 years ago7,8, how this enzyme is recruited and nucleated at pericentric heterochromatin during Drosophila somatic development remains unknown. Here, by leveraging a transposition reporter system combined with a genome-wide RNAi screen, we identified the poly-U binding protein Puf68 as an imperative factor in recruiting SUV39H methyltransferase to initiate pericentric heterochromatin formation. The Puf68 protein binds with high affinity to poly-U tracts in pre-tRNAs, forming a Puf68/pre-tRNA complex that subsequently base-pairs with the primer binding site (PBS) of nascent LTR-retrotransposons. Then, Puf68 directly interacts and functionally recruits Su(var)3-9 to LTR-retrotransposon regions to catalyze H3K9 trimethylation. Notably, Puf68 is sufficient to initiate de novo heterochromatin assembly at both pericentric regions and the genomic regions of ectopically integrated LTR-retrotransposons. Given the highly divergent DNA composition in Drosophila pericentric regions, our work resolves a long-standing question: how the fly harnesses nascent LTR-retrotransposon transcripts to establish a specialized mechanism for initiating constitutive heterochromatin assembly.","dates":{"publication":"2026/09/04"},"accession":"GSE307918","cross_references":{"GSM":["GSM9233975","GSM9233974","GSM9233977","GSM9233976"],"GPL":["19132"],"GSE":["307918"],"taxon":["Drosophila melanogaster"],"PMID":["[42685192]"]}}