The poly(A) tail blocks RDR6 from converting self mRNAs into substrates for gene silencing.
It remains unclear how post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) in plants discriminates aberrant RNAs from canonical messenger RNAs (mRNAs). The key step of plant PTGS is the conversion of aberrant RNAs into double-stranded RNAs by RNA-DEPENDENT RNA POLYMERASE6 (RDR6). Here, we show that RDR6 itself selects aberrant poly(A)-less mRNAs over canonical polyadenylated mRNAs as templates at the initiation step of complementary strand synthesis. This mechanism can be viewed as an innate safeguard against 'self-attack' by PTGS.
Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0032, Japan.|Department of Computational Biology and Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0032, Japan.
Kyungmin
K
Baeg
Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0032, Japan.|Department of Computational Biology and Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0032, Japan.
Hiro-Oki
HO
Iwakawa
Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0032, Japan.|Department of Computational Biology and Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0032, Japan.
Yukihide
0000-0001-8442-0851
Y
Tomari
D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D020868:Gene Silencing / Q000502:physiology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics*; D018749:RNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D012324:RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase / Q000235:genetics
D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D018749:RNA, Plant; C514575:RDR6 protein, Arabidopsis; D012324:RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase