ArticleNature structural & molecular biology2025
piRNA gene density and SUMOylation organize piRNA transcriptional condensate formation.
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Article in Nature structural & molecular biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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3citing papers in PubMed
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Transposon targeting non-coding RNA transcription targets G/C-rich tracts and is facilitated by an intrinsically disordered protein in Tetrahymena.Science China. Life sciences · 2026Article
- An ultrasensitive CRISPR-strand displacement amplification biosensor achieves piRNA-54265 detection and imaging in colorectal cancer cells.Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry · 2026Article
- The H3K27me3 reader UAD-2 recruits a TAF-12-containing transcription machinery to initiate piRNA expression within heterochromatic clusters.Nature communications · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
20 authors.
Chengming Zhu *Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, The USTC RNA Institute, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Membraneless Organelles & Cellular Dynamics, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Biomedicine of IHM, School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4930-2192
Xiaoyue Si *Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, The USTC RNA Institute, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Membraneless Organelles & Cellular Dynamics, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Biomedicine of IHM, School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
Xinhao HouDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, The USTC RNA Institute, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Membraneless Organelles & Cellular Dynamics, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Biomedicine of IHM, School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
Panpan XuDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, The USTC RNA Institute, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Membraneless Organelles & Cellular Dynamics, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Biomedicine of IHM, School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
Jianing GaoDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, The USTC RNA Institute, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Membraneless Organelles & Cellular Dynamics, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Biomedicine of IHM, School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
Yao TangDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, The USTC RNA Institute, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Membraneless Organelles & Cellular Dynamics, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Biomedicine of IHM, School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
Chenchun WengDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, The USTC RNA Institute, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Membraneless Organelles & Cellular Dynamics, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Biomedicine of IHM, School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
Mingjing XuDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, The USTC RNA Institute, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Membraneless Organelles & Cellular Dynamics, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Biomedicine of IHM, School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
Qi YanDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, The USTC RNA Institute, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Membraneless Organelles & Cellular Dynamics, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Biomedicine of IHM, School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
Qile JinDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, The USTC RNA Institute, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Membraneless Organelles & Cellular Dynamics, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Biomedicine of IHM, School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
Jiewei ChengDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, The USTC RNA Institute, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Membraneless Organelles & Cellular Dynamics, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Biomedicine of IHM, School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
Ke RuanDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, The USTC RNA Institute, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Membraneless Organelles & Cellular Dynamics, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Biomedicine of IHM, School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9358-0451
Ying ZhouDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, The USTC RNA Institute, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Membraneless Organelles & Cellular Dynamics, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Biomedicine of IHM, School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8992-7897
Ge ShanDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, The USTC RNA Institute, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Membraneless Organelles & Cellular Dynamics, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Biomedicine of IHM, School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3561-2088
Demin XuDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, The USTC RNA Institute, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Membraneless Organelles & Cellular Dynamics, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Biomedicine of IHM, School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
Xiangyang ChenDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, The USTC RNA Institute, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Membraneless Organelles & Cellular Dynamics, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Biomedicine of IHM, School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6530-7191
Shengqi XiangDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, The USTC RNA Institute, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Membraneless Organelles & Cellular Dynamics, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Biomedicine of IHM, School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. cqxiang@ustc.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6874-4925
Xinya HuangDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, The USTC RNA Institute, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Membraneless Organelles & Cellular Dynamics, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Biomedicine of IHM, School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. hxy1996@ustc.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0006-1077-1564
Xuezhu FengSchool of Basic Medical Sciences, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China. fengxuezhu@ahmu.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1440-210X
Shouhong GuangDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, The USTC RNA Institute, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Membraneless Organelles & Cellular Dynamics, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Biomedicine of IHM, School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. sguang@ustc.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7700-9634
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are essential for maintaining genome integrity and fertility in various organisms. In flies and nematodes, piRNA genes are encoded in heterochromatinized genomic clusters. The molecular mechanisms of piRNA transcription remain intriguing. Through small RNA sequencing and chromatin editing, we discovered that spatial aggregation of piRNA genes enhances their transcription in nematodes. The facultative heterochromatinized piRNA genome recruits the piRNA upstream sequence transcription complex (USTC; including PRDE-1, SNPC4, TOFU-4 and TOFU-5) and the H3K27me3 reader UAD-2, which phase-separate into droplets to initiate piRNA transcription. We searched for factors that regulate piRNA transcription and isolated the SUMO E3 ligase GEI-17 as inhibiting and the SUMO protease TOFU-3 as promoting piRNA transcription foci formation, thereby regulating piRNA production. Our study revealed that spatial aggregation of piRNA genes, phase separation and deSUMOylation may benefit the organization of functional biomolecular condensates to direct piRNA transcription in the facultative heterochromatinized genome.
Indexed as
Caenorhabditis elegansRNA, Small InterferingSumoylationTranscription, GeneticAnimalsHeterochromatinPiwi-Interacting RNAHeterochromatinPiwi-Interacting RNARNA, Small Interfering
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PMID
40316696What OpenQuestion holds
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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.