ArticlePLoS genetics2013
A conserved upstream motif orchestrates autonomous, germline-enriched expression of Caenorhabditis elegans piRNAs.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers.
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35 citing papers in PubMed.
- The H3K27me3 reader UAD-2 recruits a TAF-12-containing transcription machinery to initiate piRNA expression within heterochromatic clusters.Nature communications · 2025Article
- RG motifs promote piRNA-mediated gene silencing in C. elegans.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Parental-effect gene-drive elements under partial selfing, or why do Caenorhabditis genomes have hyperdivergent regions?Genetics · 2025Article
- Parental-effect gene-drive elements under partial selfing, or why dobioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- The Upstream Sequence Transcription Complex dictates nucleosome positioning and promoter accessibility at piRNA genes in the C. elegans germ line.PLoS genetics · 2024Article
- Catalytic residues of microRNA Argonautes play a modest role in microRNA star strand destabilization in C. elegans.Nucleic acids research · 2024Article
- HRDE-2 drives small RNA specificity for the nuclear Argonaute protein HRDE-1.Nature communications · 2024Article
- The catalytic activity of microRNA Argonautes plays a modest role in microRNA star strand destabilization inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- C. elegans germ granules sculpt both germline and somatic RNAome.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Reprogramming the piRNA pathway for multiplexed and transgenerational gene silencing in C. elegans.Nature methods · 2022Article
- The Small RNA Universe ofFrontiers in molecular biosciences · 2022Article
- A chromodomain protein mediates heterochromatin-directed piRNA expression.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021Article
- Integrator is recruited to promoter-proximally paused RNA Pol II to generate Caenorhabditis elegans piRNA precursors.The EMBO journal · 2021Article
- The RNA polymerase II subunit RPB-9 recruits the integrator complex to terminate Caenorhabditis elegans piRNA transcription.The EMBO journal · 2021Article
- Article
- Long-term experimental evolution reveals purifying selection on piRNA-mediated control of transposable element expression.BMC biology · 2020Article
- Widespread roles for piRNAs and WAGO-class siRNAs in shaping the germline transcriptome of Caenorhabditis elegans.Nucleic acids research · 2020Article
- Multigenerational Regulation of theAnnual review of genetics · 2019Review
- Todos Santos small RNA symposium.RNA biology · 2019Article
- Comparative Epigenomics Reveals that RNA Polymerase II Pausing and Chromatin Domain Organization Control Nematode piRNA Biogenesis.Developmental cell · 2019Article
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Abstract
Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) fulfill a critical, conserved role in defending the genome against foreign genetic elements. In many organisms, piRNAs appear to be derived from processing of a long, polycistronic RNA precursor. Here, we establish that each Caenorhabditis elegans piRNA represents a tiny, autonomous transcriptional unit. Remarkably, the minimal C. elegans piRNA cassette requires only a 21 nucleotide (nt) piRNA sequence and an ∼50 nt upstream motif with limited genomic context for expression. Combining computational analyses with a novel, in vivo transgenic system, we demonstrate that this upstream motif is necessary for independent expression of a germline-enriched, Piwi-dependent piRNA. We further show that a single nucleotide position within this motif directs differential germline enrichment. Accordingly, over 70% of C. elegans piRNAs are selectively expressed in male or female germline, and comparison of the genes they target suggests that these two populations have evolved independently. Together, our results indicate that C. elegans piRNA upstream motifs act as independent promoters to specify which sequences are expressed as piRNAs, how abundantly they are expressed, and in what germline. As the genome encodes well over 15,000 unique piRNA sequences, our study reveals that the number of transcriptional units encoding piRNAs rivals the number of mRNA coding genes in the C. elegans genome.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.