DCL-1 colocalizes with other components of the MSUD machinery and is required for silencing.
In Neurospora, a gene present in an abnormal number of copies is usually a red flag for mischief. One way to deal with these potential intruders is by destroying their transcripts. Widely known as RNA interference (RNAi), this mechanism depends on the "dicing" of a double-stranded RNA intermediate into small-interfering RNA, which in turn guide the degradation of mRNA from the target gene. Quelling is a vegetative silencing system in Neurospora that utilizes such a mechanism. Quelling depends on the redundant activity of two Dicer-like ribonucleases, DCL-1 and DCL-2. Here, we show that Meiotic Silencing by Unpaired DNA (MSUD), a mechanism that silences expression from unpaired DNA during meiosis, requires the dcl-1 (but not the dcl-2) gene for its function. This result suggests that MSUD operates in a similar manner to Quelling and other RNAi systems. DCL-1 colocalizes with SAD-1 (an RdRP), SAD-2, and SMS-2 (an Argonaute) in the perinuclear region.
Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.
William G
WG
Alexander
Namboori B
NB
Raju
Hua
H
Xiao
Thomas M
TM
Hammond
Tony D
TD
Perdue
Robert L
RL
Metzenberg
Patricia J
PJ
Pukkila
Patrick K T
PK
Shiu
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000737:chemistry; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D017353:Gene Deletion; D020868:Gene Silencing; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009491:Neurospora / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D011485:Protein Binding; D043244:Ribonuclease III / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
D005656:Fungal Proteins; D043244:Ribonuclease III