Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Barucci G
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7272227 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Nature cell biology 20200203 2
PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) promote fertility in many animals. However, whether this is due to their conserved role in repressing repetitive elements (REs) remains unclear. Here, we show that the progressive loss of fertility in Caenorhabditis elegans lacking piRNAs is not caused by derepression of REs or other piRNA targets but, rather, is mediated by epigenetic silencing of all of the replicative histone genes. In the absence of piRNAs, downstream components of the piRNA pathway relocalize ...[more]