Decoupling the downstream effects of germline nuclear RNAi reveals that transcriptional repression and heritable RNAi are independent of the H3K9me3 response in C. elegans
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ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Caenorhabditis elegans
PROVIDER: GSE86517 | GEO | 2017/01/01
SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA342115
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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Project description:Germline nuclear RNAi in C. elegans is a transgenerational gene-silencing pathway that leads to H3K9 trimethylation (H3K9me3) and transcriptional silencing at the target genes. H3K9me3 induced by either exogenous double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) or endogenous siRNA (endo-siRNA) is highly specific to the target loci and transgenerationally heritable. Despite these features, the role of H3K9me3 in siRNA-mediated transcriptional silencing and inheritance of the silencing state at native target genes is unclear. In this study, we took combined genetic and whole-genome approaches to address this question.Here we demonstrate that siRNA-mediated H3K9me3 requires combined activities of three H3K9 histone methyltransferases: MET-2, SET-25, and SET-32. set-32 single, met-2 set-25 double, and met-2 set-25;set-32 triple mutant adult animals all exhibit prominent reductions in H3K9me3 throughout the genome, with met-2 set-25;set-32 mutant worms losing all detectable H3K9me3 signals. Surprisingly, loss of high-magnitude H3K9me3 at the native nuclear RNAi targets has no effect on the transcriptional silencing state. In addition, the exogenous dsRNA-induced transcriptional silencing and heritable RNAi at oma-1, a well-established nuclear RNAi reporter gene, are completely resistant to the loss of H3K9me3.Nuclear RNAi-mediated H3K9me3 in C. elegans requires multiple histone methyltransferases, including MET-2, SET-25, and SET-32. H3K9me3 is not essential for dsRNA-induced heritable RNAi or the maintenance of endo-siRNA-mediated transcriptional silencing in C. elegans. We propose that siRNA-mediated transcriptional silencing in C. elegans can be maintained by an H3K9me3-independent mechanism.
| S-EPMC5311726 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Germline nuclear RNAi in C. elegans is a transgenerational gene-silencing pathway that leads to the H3K9 trimethylation (H3K9me3) response and transcriptional repression of target genes. The H3K9me3 response induced either by exogenous dsRNA or endogenous siRNA (endo-siRNA) is highly specific to the target loci and transgenerationally heritable. Despite these features, the role of H3K9me3 in transcriptional repression and heritable gene silencing at native target genes has not been tested. To resolve this gap, we first determined that the combined activities of three H3K9 histone methyltransferases (HMTs), MET-2, SET-25, and SET-32, are responsible for virtually all of the detectable level of germline nuclear RNAi-dependent H3K9me3 at native genes, triggered either by exogenous dsRNA or endo-siRNAs. By performing RNA Polymerase II ChIP-seq and pre-mRNA-seq analyses, we found that the loss of the H3K9me3 response at germline nuclear RNAi targets in the met-2;set-25;set-32 mutant does not lead to any defect in transcriptional repression or heritable RNAi. Therefore, H3K9me3 is not required for exogenous dsRNA-induced heritable RNAi or the maintenance of endo siRNA-mediated transcriptional silencing in C. elegans germline. This study provides a unique paradigm in which transcriptional silencing and heterochromatin, triggered by the same upstream pathway, can be decoupled.
2017-01-01 | GSE86515 | GEO
Project description:Germline nuclear RNAi in C. elegans is a transgenerational gene-silencing pathway that leads to the H3K9 trimethylation (H3K9me3) response and transcriptional repression of target genes. The H3K9me3 response induced either by exogenous dsRNA or endogenous siRNA (endo-siRNA) is highly specific to the target loci and transgenerationally heritable. Despite these features, the role of H3K9me3 in transcriptional repression and heritable gene silencing at native target genes has not been tested. To resolve this gap, we first determined that the combined activities of three H3K9 histone methyltransferases (HMTs), MET-2, SET-25, and SET-32, are responsible for virtually all of the detectable level of germline nuclear RNAi-dependent H3K9me3 at native genes, triggered either by exogenous dsRNA or endo-siRNAs. By performing RNA Polymerase II ChIP-seq and pre-mRNA-seq analyses, we found that the loss of the H3K9me3 response at germline nuclear RNAi targets in the met-2;set-25;set-32 mutant does not lead to any defect in transcriptional repression or heritable RNAi. Therefore, H3K9me3 is not required for exogenous dsRNA-induced heritable RNAi or the maintenance of endo siRNA-mediated transcriptional silencing in C. elegans germline. This study provides a unique paradigm in which transcriptional silencing and heterochromatin, triggered by the same upstream pathway, can be decoupled.
2017-01-01 | GSE86513 | GEO
Project description:Germline nuclear RNAi in C. elegans is a transgenerational gene-silencing pathway that leads to the H3K9 trimethylation (H3K9me3) response and transcriptional repression of target genes. The H3K9me3 response induced either by exogenous dsRNA or endogenous siRNA (endo-siRNA) is highly specific to the target loci and transgenerationally heritable. Despite these features, the role of H3K9me3 in transcriptional repression and heritable gene silencing at native target genes has not been tested. To resolve this gap, we first determined that the combined activities of three H3K9 histone methyltransferases (HMTs), MET-2, SET-25, and SET-32, are responsible for virtually all of the detectable level of germline nuclear RNAi-dependent H3K9me3 at native genes, triggered either by exogenous dsRNA or endo-siRNAs. By performing RNA Polymerase II ChIP-seq and pre-mRNA-seq analyses, we found that the loss of the H3K9me3 response at germline nuclear RNAi targets in the met-2;set-25;set-32 mutant does not lead to any defect in transcriptional repression or heritable RNAi. Therefore, H3K9me3 is not required for exogenous dsRNA-induced heritable RNAi or the maintenance of endo siRNA-mediated transcriptional silencing in C. elegans germline. This study provides a unique paradigm in which transcriptional silencing and heterochromatin, triggered by the same upstream pathway, can be decoupled.
2017-01-01 | GSE86516 | GEO
Project description:Decoupling the downstream effects of germline nuclear RNAi reveals that transcriptional repression and heritable RNAi are independent of the H3K9me3 response in C. elegans
| PRJNA342115 | ENA
Project description:RNA interference (RNAi) is heritable in Caenorhabditis elegans; the progeny of C. elegans exposed to dsRNA inherit the ability to silence genes that were targeted by RNAi in the previous generation. Here we investigate the mechanism of RNAi inheritance in C. elegans. We show that exposure of animals to dsRNA results in the heritable expression of siRNAs and the heritable deposition of histone 3 lysine 9 methylation (H3K9me) marks in progeny. siRNAs are detectable before the appearance of H3K9me marks, suggesting that chromatin marks are not directly inherited but, rather, reestablished in inheriting progeny. Interestingly, H3K9me marks appear more prominently in inheriting progeny than in animals directly exposed to dsRNA, suggesting that germ-line transmission of silencing signals may enhance the efficiency of siRNA-directed H3K9me. Finally, we show that the nuclear RNAi (Nrde) pathway maintains heritable RNAi silencing in C. elegans. The Argonaute (Ago) NRDE-3 associates with heritable siRNAs and, acting in conjunction with the nuclear RNAi factors NRDE-1, NRDE-2, and NRDE-4, promotes siRNA expression in inheriting progeny. These results demonstrate that siRNA expression is heritable in C. elegans and define an RNAi pathway that promotes the maintenance of RNAi silencing and siRNA expression in the progeny of animals exposed to dsRNA.
| S-EPMC3241819 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Orsay virus (OrV) is the first virus known to be able to complete a full infection cycle in the model nematode species Caenorhabditis elegans. OrV is transmitted horizontally and its infection is limited by antiviral RNA interference (RNAi). However, we have no insight into the kinetics of OrV replication in C. elegans. We developed an assay that infects worms in liquid, allowing precise monitoring of the infection. The assay revealed a dual role for the RNAi response in limiting Orsay virus infection in C. elegans. Firstly, it limits the progression of the initial infection at the step of recognition of dsRNA. Secondly, it provides an inherited protection against infection in the offspring. This establishes the heritable RNAi response as anti-viral mechanism during OrV infections in C. elegans. Our results further illustrate that the inheritance of the anti-viral response is important in controlling the infection in the canonical wild type Bristol N2. The OrV replication kinetics were established throughout the worm life-cycle, setting a standard for further quantitative assays with the OrV-C. elegans infection model.
| S-EPMC3933659 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Analysis of complex biological functions usually requires tissue-specific genetic manipulations in multicellular organisms. The C. elegans germline plays regulatory roles not only in reproduction, but also in metabolism, stress response and ageing. Previous studies have used mutants of rrf-1, which encodes an RNA-directed RNA polymerase, as a germline-specific RNAi tool. However, the rrf-1 mutants showed RNAi activities in somatic tissues. Here we constructed a germline-specific RNAi strain by combining an indel mutation of rde-1, which encodes an Argonaute protein that functions cell autonomously to ensure RNAi efficiency, and a single copy rde-1 transgene driven by the sun-1 germline-specific promoter. The germline RNAi efficiency and specificity are confirmed by RNAi phenocopy of known mutations, knockdown of GFP reporter expression, as well as quantitative RT-PCR measurement of tissue-specific mRNAs upon RNAi knockdown. The germline-specific RNAi strain shows no obvious deficiencies in reproduction, lipid accumulation, thermo-tolerance and life span compared to wild-type animals. By screening an RNAi sub-library of phosphatase genes, we identified novel regulators of thermo-tolerance. Together, we have created a useful tool that can facilitate the genetic analysis of germline-specific functions in C. elegans.
| S-EPMC6382888 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Environmental stress-induced transgenerational epigenetic effects have been observed in various model organisms and human. The capacity and mechanism of such phenomena are poorly understood. In C. elegans, siRNA mediates transgenerational gene silencing through the germline nuclear RNAi pathway. This pathway is also required to maintain the germline immortality when C. elegans is under heat stress. However, the underlying molecular mechanism is unknown. In this study, we investigated the impact of heat stress on chromatin, transcription, and siRNAs at the whole-genome level, and whether any of the heat-induced effects is transgenerationally heritable in either the wild-type or the germline nuclear RNAi mutant animals.We performed 12-generation temperature-shift experiments using the wild-type C. elegans and a mutant strain that lacks the germline-specific nuclear Argonaute protein HRDE-1/WAGO-9. By examining the mRNA, small RNA, RNA polymerase II, and H3K9 trimethylation profiles at the whole-genome level, we revealed an epigenetic role of HRDE-1 in repressing heat stress-induced transcriptional activation of over 280 genes. Many of these genes are in or near LTR (long-terminal repeat) retrotransposons. Strikingly, for some of these genes, the heat stress-induced transcriptional activation in the hrde-1 mutant intensifies in the late generations under the heat stress and is heritable for at least two generations after the mutant animals are shifted back to lower temperature. hrde-1 mutation also leads to siRNA expression changes of many genes. This effect on siRNA is dependent on both the temperature and generation.Our study demonstrated that a large number of the endogenous targets of the germline nuclear RNAi pathway in C. elegans are sensitive to heat-induced transcriptional activation. This effect at certain genomic loci including LTR retrotransposons is transgenerational. Germline nuclear RNAi antagonizes this temperature effect at the transcriptional level and therefore may play a key role in heat stress response in C. elegans.
| S-EPMC4714518 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundSmall RNA-guided transcriptional silencing (nuclear RNAi) is fundamental to genome integrity and epigenetic inheritance. Despite recent progress in identifying the capability and genetic requirements for nuclear RNAi in Caenorhabditis elegans, the natural targets and cellular functions of nuclear RNAi remain elusive.MethodsTo resolve this gap, we coordinately examined the genome-wide profiles of transcription, histone H3 lysine 9 methylation (H3K9me) and endogenous siRNAs of a germline nuclear Argonaute (hrde-1/wago-9) mutant and identified regions on which transcription activity is markedly increased and/or H3K9me level is markedly decreased relative to wild type animals.ResultsOur data revealed a distinct set of native targets of germline nuclear RNAi, with the H3K9me response exhibiting both overlapping and non-overlapping distribution with the transcriptional silencing response. Interestingly LTR retrotransposons, but not DNA transposons, are highly enriched in the targets of germline nuclear RNAi. The genomic distribution of the native targets is highly constrained, with >99% of the identified targets present in five autosomes but not in the sex chromosome. By contrast, HRDE-1-associated small RNAs correspond to all chromosomes. In addition, we found that the piRNA pathway is not required for germline nuclear RNAi activity on native targets.ConclusionGermline nuclear RNAi in C. elegans is required to silence retrotransposons but not DNA transposon. Transcriptional silencing and H3K9me can occur independently of each other on the native targets of nuclear RNAi in C. elegans. Our results rule out a simple model in which nuclear Argonaute protein-associated-small RNAs are sufficient to trigger germline nuclear RNAi responses. In addition, the piRNA pathway and germline nuclear RNAi are specialized to target different types of foreign genetic elements for genome surveillance in C. elegans.
| S-EPMC4367959 | biostudies-literature