Caenorhabditis elegans nuclear rnai factor set-32 deposits the transgenerational histone modification, h3k23me3

Lianna Schwartz-Orbach, Chenzhen Zhang, Simone Sidoli, Richa Amin, Diljeet Kaur, Anna Zhebrun, Julie Ni, Sam G. Gu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

Nuclear RNAi provides a highly tractable system to study RNA-mediated chromatin changes and epigenetic inheritance. Recent studies have indicated that the regulation and function of nuclear RNAi-mediated heterochromatin are highly complex. Our knowledge of histone modifications and the corresponding histonemodifying enzymes involved in the system remains limited. In this study, we show that the heterochromatin mark, H3K23me3, is induced by nuclear RNAi at both exogenous and endogenous targets in C. elegans. In addition, dsRNA-induced H3K23me3 can persist for multiple generations after the dsRNA exposure has stopped. We demonstrate that the histone methyltransferase SET-32, methylates H3K23 in vitro. Both set-32 and the germline nuclear RNAi Argonaute, hrde-1, are required for nuclear RNAi-induced H3K23me3 in vivo. Our data poise H3K23me3 as an additional chromatin modification in the nuclear RNAi pathway and provides the field with a new target for uncovering the role of heterochromatin in transgenerational epigenetic silencing.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere54309
Pages (from-to)1-21
Number of pages21
JournaleLife
Volume9
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2020

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Neuroscience
  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • General Immunology and Microbiology

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