The proper splicing of RNAi factors is critical for pericentric heterochromatin assembly in fission yeast.

ABSTRACT: Heterochromatin preferentially assembles at repetitive DNA elements, playing roles in transcriptional silencing, recombination suppression, and chromosome segregation. The RNAi machinery is required for heterochromatin assembly in a diverse range of organisms. In fission yeast, RNA splicing factors are also required for pericentric heterochromatin assembly, and a prevailing model is that splicing factors provide a platform for siRNA generation independently of their splicing activity. Here, by screening the fission yeast deletion library, we discovered four novel splicing factors that are required for pericentric heterochromatin assembly. Sequencing total cellular RNAs from the strongest of these mutants, cwf14Δ, showed intron retention in mRNAs of several RNAi factors. Moreover, introduci

SUBMITTER: Kallgren SP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4038458 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature