Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Molecular biology

Rhino gives voice to silent chromatin

Nature volume 549, pages 38–39 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

Flies use master lists of DNA sequences from transposons to identify and silence these virus-like, genomic parasites. How the lists themselves escape the fate of their transposon targets has now been solved. See Letter p.54

Transposons are virus-like genomic parasites that propagate by inserting new copies of themselves into the DNA of sperm and egg precursor cells, ensuring the parasites' inheritance. Because transposons can damage DNA when they jump, animals deploy PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) — short RNA molecules based on snippets of transposon sequence. In fruit flies, piRNAs direct protein complexes to initiate the construction of a DNA–protein complex called heterochromatin that represses transcription of transposon DNA. The piRNA sequences match both the DNA sequences from which they derive and the transposons themselves. Paradoxically, the piRNA-producing DNA must be actively transcribed, whereas transposon transcription must be suppressed. How can identical DNA sequences be transcribed in one location but silenced in another? Andersen et al.1 describe on page 54 how fruit flies solve this problem.

This is a preview of subscription content

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Figure 1: Incoherent transcription of PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA) precursors in fruit flies.

Notes

  1. See all news & views

References

  1. Andersen, P. R., Tirian, L., Vunjak, M. & Brennecke, J. Nature 549, 54–59 (2017).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Brennecke, J. et al. Cell 128, 1089–1103 (2007).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Czech, B. & Hannon, G. J. Trends Biochem. Sci. 41, 324–337 (2016).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Yu, Y. et al. Science 350, 339–342 (2015).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Grewal, S. I. S. & Elgin, S. C. R. Nature 447, 399–406 (2007).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Bühler, M. & Moazed, D. Nature Struct. Mol. Biol. 14, 1041–1048 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Vermaak, D., Henikoff, S. & Malik, H. S. PLoS Genet. 1, e9 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Volpe, A. M., Horowitz, H., Grafer, C. M., Jackson, S. M. & Berg, C. A. Genetics 159, 1117–1134 (2001).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Klattenhoff, C. et al. Cell 138, 1137–1149 (2009).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Yu, B. et al. Cell Res. 25, 525–528 (2015).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Zhang, Z. et al. Cell 157, 1353–1363 (2014).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Mohn, F., Sienski, G., Handler, D. & Brennecke, J. Cell 157, 1364–1379 (2014).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Le Thomas, A. et al. Genes Dev. 28, 1667–1680 (2014).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Chen, Y.-C. A. et al. Mol. Cell 63, 97–109 (2016).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Gunawardane, L. S. et al. Science 315, 1587–1590 (2007).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. RNA Therapeutics Institute and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, 01605, Massachusetts, USA

    Phillip D. Zamore

Authors
  1. Phillip D. Zamore
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Phillip D. Zamore.

Related links

Related links

Related links in Nature Research

RNA silencing: Genomic defence with a slice of pi

Evolutionary biology: Small regulatory RNAs pitch in

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zamore, P. Rhino gives voice to silent chromatin. Nature 549, 38–39 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/549038a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/549038a

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing