title: Silencing of germline-expressed genes by DNA elimination in somatic cells.
abstract: Chromatin diminution is the programmed elimination of specific DNA sequences during development. It occurs in diverse species, but the function(s) of diminution and the specificity of sequence loss remain largely unknown. Diminution in the nematode Ascaris suum occurs during early embryonic cleavages and leads to the loss of germline genome sequences and the formation of a distinct genome in somatic cells. We found that ∼43 Mb (∼13%) of genome sequence is eliminated in A. suum somatic cells, including ∼12.7 Mb of unique sequence. The eliminated sequences and location of the DNA breaks are the same in all somatic lineages from a single individual and between different individuals. At least 685 genes are eliminated. These genes are preferentially expressed in the germline and during early embryogenesis. We propose that diminution is a mechanism of germline gene regulation that specifically removes a large number of genes involved in gametogenesis and early embryogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA.
authors.forename: Jianbin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Makedonka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mitreva
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Berriman
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thorne
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Magrini
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Koutsovoulos
authors.forename: Sujai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Mark L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Blaxter
authors.forename: Richard E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017165:Ascaris suum / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D002843:Chromatin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D053960:DNA Breaks; D018509:DNA, Helminth / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005718:Gametogenesis / Q000235:genetics; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D020868:Gene Silencing; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D049751:Genome, Helminth; D008297:Male; D018510:RNA, Helminth / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin; D018509:DNA, Helminth; D018510:RNA, Helminth