Transgenerational dynamics of rDNA copy number in Drosophila male germline stem cells
- University of Michigan, United States
Abstract
rDNA loci, composed of hundreds of tandemly duplicated arrays of rRNA genes, are known to be among the most unstable genetic elements due to their repetitive nature. rDNA instability underlies aging (replicative senescence) in yeast cells, however, its contribution to the aging of multicellular organisms is poorly understood. In this study, we investigate the dynamics of rDNA loci during aging in the Drosophila male germline stem cell (GSC) lineage, and show that rDNA copy number decreases during aging. Our study further reveals that this age-dependent decrease in rDNA copy number is heritable from generation to generation, yet GSCs in young animals that inherited reduced rDNA copy number are capable of recovering normal rDNA copy number. Based on these findings, we propose that rDNA loci are dynamic genetic elements, where rDNA copy number changes dynamically yet is maintained through a recovery mechanism in the germline.
Article and author information
Author details
Natalie Warsinger-Pepe
Yukiko M Yamashita
Funding
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- Yukiko M Yamashita
National Institute of General Medical Sciences
- Yukiko M Yamashita
National Institute on Aging
- Kevin L Lu
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
- Natalie Warsinger-Pepe
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2018, Lu et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Transgenerational dynamics of rDNA copy number in Drosophila male germline stem cells
eLife 7:e32421.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.32421
