Chromosome fusions triggered by noncoding RNA

Bracht, John R; Wang, Xing; Shetty, Keerthi; Chen, Xiao; Uttarotai, Grace J; Callihan, Evan C; McCloud, Sierra S; Clay, Derek M; Wang, Jingmei; Nowacki, Mariusz; Landweber, Laura F (2016). Chromosome fusions triggered by noncoding RNA. RNA biology, 14(5), pp. 620-631. Landes Bioscience 10.1080/15476286.2016.1195940

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Chromosomal fusions are common in normal and cancer cells and can produce aberrant gene products that promote transformation. The mechanisms driving these fusions are poorly understood, but recurrent fusions are widespread. This suggests an underlying mechanism, and some authors have proposed a possible role for RNA in this process. The unicellular eukaryote Oxytricha trifallax displays an exorbitant capacity for natural genome editing, when it rewrites its germline genome to form a somatic epigenome. This developmental process provides a powerful model system to directly test the influence of small noncoding RNAs on chromosome fusion events during somatic differentiation. Here we show that small RNAs are capable of inducing chromosome fusions in four distinct cases (out of four tested), including one fusion of three chromosomes. We further show that these RNA-mediated chromosome fusions are heritable over multiple sexual generations and that transmission of the acquired fusion is associated with endogenous production of novel piRNA molecules that target the fused junction. We also demonstrate the capacity of a long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) to induce chromosome fusion of two distal germline loci. These results underscore the ability of short-lived, aberrant RNAs to act as drivers of chromosome fusion events that can be stably transmitted to future generations.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Cell Biology > Ciliate 08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Cell Biology
UniBE Contributor:	Nowacki, Mariusz
Subjects:	500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology
ISSN:	1547-6286
Publisher:	Landes Bioscience
Language:	English
Submitter:	Mariusz Nowacki
Date Deposited:	20 Jun 2016 10:24
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 14:56
Publisher DOI:	10.1080/15476286.2016.1195940
PubMed ID:	27267579
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Chromosome fusion; Oxytricha; long noncoding RNA; piRNAs
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/83708