Editor's Summary
10 January 2008
RNA in charge
The ciliate Oxytricha trifallax cuts up and removes most of its nuclear DNA during one developmental stage, stitching 5% of its chromosomes back together at specific points. Nowacki et al. have made the extraordinary discovery that maternal RNA remaining in the new cell can act as a template for the chromosomal rearrangements, as shown by the disruption caused when several RNAs are removed from the cell. This points to a new role for RNA in genome rearrangement in vivo.
News and Views: Molecular biology: RNA rules
Studies of an old genetic puzzle in a little-known protozoan reveal a new frontier in the expanding world of RNAs: an RNA template guides genome-wide DNA rearrangements during sexual reproduction.
Meng-Chao Yao
doi:10.1038/451131a
Article: RNA-mediated epigenetic programming of a genome-rearrangement pathway
Mariusz Nowacki, Vikram Vijayan, Yi Zhou, Klaas Schotanus, Thomas G. Doak & Laura F. Landweber
doi:10.1038/nature06452