报告题目：Identification of a nuclear RNAi pathway that mediates transcription termination

报告人：Shouhong Guang, PhD

　　　　Department of Genetics, University of Wisconsin, Madison

时间: 2009年12月21日上午10:30-12:00

地点: 中科院遗传发育所二号楼S2-102会议室

摘要：

Small regulatory RNAs function in a remarkably wide range of biological processes, including but not limited to heterochromatin formation, developmental timing, defense against parasitic nucleic acids, and genome rearrangement. Many small regulatory RNAs function, at least in part, within the nucleus. However, it remains unclear how small RNAs are transported to the nucleus and how they silence gene expression in the nucleus in metazoans. A genetic screen has identified several novel genes, which are specifically required for nuclear RNAi in C. elegans. This research revealed that a specific Argonaute protein has transportation activity in addition to gene silencing. This research also demonstrated that metazoan small RNAs elicit a co-transcriptional gene-silencing program, and can act as trans-acting terminators of RNA polymerase II. Thus, we established a novel small RNA-mediated gene silencing mechanism in metazoans.