RRC ID 65392
Author Spichal M, Heestand B, Billmyre KK, Frenk S, Mello CC, Ahmed S.
Title Germ granule dysfunction is a hallmark and mirror of Piwi mutant sterility.
Journal Nat Commun
Abstract In several species, Piwi/piRNA genome silencing defects cause immediate sterility that correlates with transposon expression and transposon-induced genomic instability. In C. elegans, mutations in the Piwi-related gene (prg-1) and other piRNA deficient mutants cause a transgenerational decline in fertility over a period of several generations. Here we show that the sterility of late generation piRNA mutants correlates poorly with increases in DNA damage signaling. Instead, sterile individuals consistently exhibit altered perinuclear germ granules. We show that disruption of germ granules does not activate transposon expression but induces multiple phenotypes found in sterile prg-1 pathway mutants. Furthermore, loss of the germ granule component pgl-1 enhances prg-1 mutant infertility. Environmental restoration of germ granule function for sterile pgl-1 mutants restores their fertility. We propose that Piwi mutant sterility is a reproductive arrest phenotype that is characterized by perturbed germ granule structure and is phenocopied by germ granule dysfunction, independent of genomic instability.
Volume 12(1)
Pages 1420
Published 2021-3-3
DOI 10.1038/s41467-021-21635-0
PII 10.1038/s41467-021-21635-0
PMID 33658512
PMC PMC7930041
MeSH Animals Animals, Genetically Modified Argonaute Proteins / genetics* Atrophy Caenorhabditis elegans / embryology Caenorhabditis elegans / genetics Caenorhabditis elegans / physiology* Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / genetics* Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / metabolism DNA Damage Embryo, Nonmammalian Female Gene Expression Regulation Genomic Instability Germ Cells / pathology Infertility / genetics* Infertility / pathology* Larva Male Mutation RNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism
Resource
C.elegans tm1200 tm872 tm1231 tm1489 tm876