The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01606, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Feb 23;107(8):3588-93. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0911685107. Epub 2010 Feb 4.
Gametogenesis is a thermosensitive process in numerous metazoans, ranging from worms to man. In Caenorhabditis elegans, a variety of RNA-binding proteins that associate with germ-line nuage (P granules), including the Piwi-clade argonaute PRG-1, have been implicated in maintaining fertility at elevated temperature. Here we describe the role of two AGO-class paralogs, alg-3 (T22B3.2) and alg-4 (ZK757.3), in promoting thermotolerant male fertility. A rescuing GFP::alg-3 transgene is localized to P granules beginning at the late pachytene stage of male gametogenesis. alg-3/4 double mutants lack a subgroup of small RNAs, the 26G-RNAs which target and appear to down-regulate numerous spermatogenesis-expressed mRNAs. These findings add to a growing number of AGO pathways required for thermotolerant fertility in C. elegans and support a model in which AGOs and their small RNA cofactors function to promote robustness in gene-expression networks.
配子发生是许多后生动物(从蠕虫到人)中对温度敏感的过程。在秀丽隐杆线虫中,与生殖系核质(P 颗粒)相关的各种 RNA 结合蛋白,包括 Piwi 家族的 Argonaute PRG-1,已被牵连到在高温下维持生育能力。在这里,我们描述了两个 AGO 类的同源物 alg-3(T22B3.2)和 alg-4(ZK757.3)在促进耐热雄性生育能力中的作用。拯救 GFP::alg-3 的转基因定位于 P 颗粒,从雄性配子发生的晚期粗线期开始。alg-3/4 双突变体缺乏一小群小 RNA,即 26G-RNAs,这些 RNA 似乎靶向并下调许多精子发生表达的 mRNA。这些发现增加了线虫耐热生育能力所需的 AGO 途径的数量,并支持了 AGO 及其小 RNA 共同因子在促进基因表达网络稳健性方面的作用模型。
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