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Co-option of the piRNA pathway for germline-specific alternative splicing of C. elegans TOR.

Co-option of the piRNA pathway for germline-specific alternative splicing of C. elegans TOR.

Authors :
Barberán-Soler S
Fontrodona L
Ribó A
Lamm AT
Iannone C
Cerón J
Lehner B
Valcárcel J
Source :
Cell reports [Cell Rep] 2014 Sep 25; Vol. 8 (6), pp. 1609-1616. Date of Electronic Publication: 2014 Sep 15.
Publication Year :
2014

Abstract

Many eukaryotic genes contain embedded antisense transcripts and repetitive sequences of unknown function. We report that male germline-specific expression of an antisense transcript contained in an intron of C. elegans Target of Rapamycin (TOR, let-363) is associated with (1) accumulation of endo-small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) against an embedded Helitron transposon and (2) activation of an alternative 3' splice site of TOR. The germline-specific Argonaute proteins PRG-1 and CSR-1, which participate in self/nonself RNA recognition, antagonistically regulate the generation of these endo-siRNAs, TOR mRNA levels, and 3' splice-site selection. Supply of exogenous double-stranded RNA against the region of sense/antisense overlap reverses changes in TOR expression and splicing and suppresses the progressive multigenerational sterility phenotype of prg-1 mutants. We propose that recognition of a "nonself" intronic transposon by endo-siRNAs/the piRNA system provides physiological regulation of expression and alternative splicing of a host gene that, in turn, contributes to the maintenance of germline function across generations.<br /> (Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
2211-1247
Volume :
8
Issue :
6
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Cell reports
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
25220461
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2014.08.016