Unknown,Transcriptomics,Genomics,Proteomics

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A strand-specific switch in noncoding transcription switches the function of a Polycomb/Trithorax response element

ABSTRACT: Polycomb/Trithorax response elements (PRE/TREs) can switch their function reversibly between silencing and activation, by mechanisms that are poorly understood. Here we show that a switch in forward and reverse noncoding transcription from the Drosophila vestigial (vg) PRE/TRE switches the status of the element between silencing (induced by the forward strand) and activation (induced by the reverse strand). In vitro, both ncRNAs inhibit PRC2 histone methyltransferase activity, but in vivo only the reverse strand binds PRC2. Overexpression of the reverse strand evicts PRC2 from chromatin and inhibits its enzymatic activity. We propose that interactions of RNAs with PRC2 are differentially regulated in vivo, allowing regulated inhibition of local PRC2 activity. Genome-wide analysis shows that strand switching of ncRNAs occurs at several hundred PcG binding sites in fly and vertebrate genomes. This work identifies a novel and potentially widespread class of PRE/TREs that switch function by switching the direction of ncRNA transcription. E(Z) and H3K27me3 profile in Drosophila embryos of two transgenic lines (pKC27.vg.fwd' and pKC27.vg.rev') that were crossed to daGAL4 in order to overexpress the forward or the reverse vg PRE/TRE ncRNA from an ectopic site ('site 1' in this study).

ORGANISM(S): Drosophila melanogaster

SUBMITTER: Leonie Ringrose

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-59192 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress

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Project description:PIWI-clade Argonaute proteins silence transposon expression in animal gonads. Their target specificity is defined by bound ~23-30nt piRNAs that are processed from single-stranded precursor transcripts via two distinct pathways. Primary piRNAs are defined by the endo-nuclease Zucchini, while biogenesis of secondary piRNAs depends on piRNA-guided transcript cleavage and results in piRNA amplification. Here, we analyze the inter-dependencies between these piRNA biogenesis pathways in the developing Drosophila ovary. We show that secondary piRNA-guided target slicing is the predominant mechanism that specifies transcripts—including those from piRNA clusters—as primary piRNA precursors and that defines the spectrum of Piwi-bound piRNAs in germline cells. Post-transcriptional silencing in the cytoplasm therefore enforces nuclear, transcriptional target silencing, which ensures the tight suppression of transposons during oogenesis. As target slicing also defines the nuclear piRNA pool during mouse spermatogenesis, our findings uncover an unexpected conceptual similarity between the mouse and fly piRNA pathways. To understand the hierarchical order of primary versus secondary piRNA biogenesis in Drosophila ovaries, we sequenced piRNAs bound to total-Piwi, germline-Piwi, Aubergine and Argonaute3 from ovaries of germline specific knockdowns of control, piwi, aub, ago3 single knockdowns and aub/ago3 double knockdowns. To determine changes in Transposable Element (TE) transcription or TE RNA steady state in perturbed piRNA pathway conditions, we performed Pol2-ChIP-sequencing and polyA bound RNA-sequencing from ovaries of multiple germline knockdown genotypes. We also sequenced genomic DNA from ovaries of control knockdowns to experimentally estimate the TE copy number in our genetic background. Finally, we used CAP-seq from germline specific Piwi depletions to identify the Transcriptional Start Sites (TSS) in TEs in a deregulated background. Replicates are labeled with R1, R2, R3, R4 where indicated.

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A strand-specific switch in noncoding transcription switches the function of a Polycomb/Trithorax response element

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