DEPS-1 is required for piRNA-dependent silencing and PIWI condensate organisation in Caenorhabditis elegans.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32843637.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-18089-1 and PMC identifier 7447803.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Membraneless organelles are sites for RNA biology including small non-coding RNA (ncRNA) mediated gene silencing. How small ncRNAs utilise phase separated environments for their function is unclear. We investigated how the PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA) pathway engages with the membraneless organelle P granule in Caenorhabditis elegans. Proteomic analysis of the PIWI protein PRG-1 reveals an interaction with the constitutive P granule protein DEPS-1. DEPS-1 is not required for piRNA biogenesis but piRNA-dependent silencing: deps-1 mutants fail to produce the secondary endo-siRNAs required for the silencing of piRNA targets. We identify a motif on DEPS-1 which mediates a direct interaction with PRG-1. DEPS-1 and PRG-1 form intertwining clusters to build elongated condensates in vivo which are dependent on the Piwi-interacting motif of DEPS-1. Additionally, we identify EDG-1 as an interactor of DEPS-1 and PRG-1. Our study reveals how specific protein-protein interactions drive the spatial organisation and piRNA-dependent silencing within membraneless organelles.
Medical subject headings
- Argonaute Proteins
- Caenorhabditis elegans
- Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins
- Gene Silencing
- RNA, Small Interfering