1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression

piRNA-guided co-transcriptional silencing coopts nuclear export factors

  1. Martin H Fabry
  2. Filippo Ciabrelli
  3. Marzia Munafò
  4. Evelyn L Eastwood
  5. Emma Kneuss
  6. Ilaria Falciatori
  7. Federica A Falconio
  8. Gregory J Hannon  Is a corresponding author
  9. Benjamin Czech  Is a corresponding author
  1. University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47999
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Cite this article
  1. Martin H Fabry
  2. Filippo Ciabrelli
  3. Marzia Munafò
  4. Evelyn L Eastwood
  5. Emma Kneuss
  6. Ilaria Falciatori
  7. Federica A Falconio
  8. Gregory J Hannon
  9. Benjamin Czech
(2019)
piRNA-guided co-transcriptional silencing coopts nuclear export factors
eLife 8:e47999.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47999
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Abstract

The PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA) pathway is a small RNA-based immune system that controls the expression of transposons and maintains genome integrity in animal gonads. In Drosophila, piRNA-guided silencing is achieved, in part, via co-transcriptional repression of transposons by Piwi. This depends on Panoramix (Panx); however, precisely how an RNA binding event silences transcription remains to be determined. Here we show that Nuclear Export Factor 2 (Nxf2) and its co-factor, Nxt1, form a complex with Panx and are required for co-transcriptional silencing of transposons in somatic and germline cells of the ovary. Tethering of Nxf2 or Nxt1 to RNA results in silencing of target loci and the concomitant accumulation of repressive chromatin marks. Nxf2 and Panx proteins are mutually required for proper localization and stability. We mapped the protein domains crucial for the Nxf2/Panx complex formation and show that the amino-terminal portion of Panx is sufficient to induce transcriptional silencing.

Data availability

Sequencing data reported in this paper has been deposited in GEO under accession number GSE121661. Mass Spectrometry data has been deposited to the PRIDE Archive (accession number PXD011415)

The following data sets were generated

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Martin H Fabry

    Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  2. Filippo Ciabrelli

    Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  3. Marzia Munafò

    Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-2689-8432

  4. Evelyn L Eastwood

    Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  5. Emma Kneuss

    Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-0662-8539

  6. Ilaria Falciatori

    Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  7. Federica A Falconio

    Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  8. Gregory J Hannon

    Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    For correspondence
    greg.hannon@cruk.cam.ac.uk
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-4021-3898

  9. Benjamin Czech

    Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    For correspondence
    benjamin.czech@cruk.cam.ac.uk
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-8471-0007

Funding

Wellcome (Investigator award 110161/Z/15/Z)

  • Gregory J Hannon

Cancer Research UK

  • Gregory J Hannon

European Molecular Biology Organization (Long-Term Fellowship ALTF 1015-2017)

  • Filippo Ciabrelli

Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (PhD fellowship)

  • Marzia Munafò

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Torben Heick Jensen, Aarhus University, Denmark

Version history

  1. Received: April 26, 2019
  2. Accepted: June 19, 2019
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: June 20, 2019 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: August 2, 2019 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2019, Fabry 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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  1. Martin H Fabry
  2. Filippo Ciabrelli
  3. Marzia Munafò
  4. Evelyn L Eastwood
  5. Emma Kneuss
  6. Ilaria Falciatori
  7. Federica A Falconio
  8. Gregory J Hannon
  9. Benjamin Czech
(2019)
piRNA-guided co-transcriptional silencing coopts nuclear export factors
eLife 8:e47999.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47999

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