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  • MRG-1 is required for both chromatin-based transcriptional silencing and genomic integrity of primordial germ cells in Caenorhabditis elegans.

MRG-1 is required for both chromatin-based transcriptional silencing and genomic integrity of primordial germ cells in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Genes to cells : devoted to molecular & cellular mechanisms (2019-04-01)
Takashi Miwa, Kunio Inoue, Hiroshi Sakamoto
RESUMO

In Caenorhabditis elegans, germline cells remain transcriptionally silenced during embryogenesis. The transcriptional silencing is achieved by two different mechanisms: One is the inhibition of RNA polymerase II in P2-P4 cells at the establishment stage, and another is chromatin-based silencing in two primordial germ cells (PGCs) at the maintenance stage; however, the molecular mechanism underlying chromatin-based silencing is less understood. We investigated the role of the chromodomain protein MRG-1, which is an essential maternal factor for germline development, in transcriptional silencing in PGCs. PGCs lacking maternal MRG-1 showed increased levels of two histone modifications (H3K4me2 and H4K16ac), which are epigenetic markers for active transcription, and precocious activation of germline promoters. Loss of MES-4, a H3K36 methyltransferase, also caused similar derepression of the germline genes in PGCs, suggesting that both MRG-1 and MES-4 function in chromatin-based silencing in PGCs. In addition, the mrg-1 null mutant showed abnormal chromosome structures and a decrease in homologous recombinase RAD-51 foci in PGCs, but the mes-4 null mutant did not show such phenotypes. Taken together, we propose that MRG-1 has two distinct functions: chromatin-based transcriptional silencing and preserving genomic integrity at the maintenance stage of PGCs.

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Sigma-Aldrich
Anticorpo antiacetil-histona H4 (Lys16), Upstate®, from rabbit
Sigma-Aldrich
Anti-Dimethyl Histone H3 (Lys4) Antibody, clone CMA303, clone CMA303, from mouse