Transgene and Transposon Silencing in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii by a DEAH-Box RNA Helicase

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2000-11, Vol.290 (5494), p.1159-1162
• Main Authors: Wu-Scharf, Dancia, Jeong, Byeong-ryool, Zhang, Chaomei, Cerutti, Heriberto
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Amino Acid Motifs; Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Cell division; Cells; Cells (Biology); Chlamydomonas; Chlamydomonas reinhardtii; Chlamydomonas reinhardtii - enzymology; Chlamydomonas reinhardtii - genetics; Cloning, Molecular; Coding; DNA; DNA Transposable Elements; Double stranded RNA; Eukaryotes; Eukaryotic cells; Exons; Family (Sociological Unit); Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene expression; Gene Silencing; Genes; Humans; Molecular and cellular biology; Molecular genetics; Molecular Sequence Data; Molecules; Mut6 gene; Polymerase chain reaction; Proteins; Retroelements; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; RNA - metabolism; RNA Helicases - chemistry; RNA Helicases - genetics; RNA Helicases - metabolism; RNA silencing; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; Sequence Alignment; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Splicing; Transcripts (Written Records); Transgenes; Transposons
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.290.5494.1159

The molecular mechanism(s) responsible for posttranscriptional gene silencing and RNA interference remain poorly understood. We have cloned a gene (Mut6) from the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii that is required for the silencing of a transgene and two transposon families. Mut6 encodes a protein that is highly homologous to RNA helicases of the DEAH-box family. This protein is necessary for the degradation of certain aberrant RNAs, such as improperly processed transcripts, which are often produced by transposons and some transgenes.