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Article
Open AccessConserved protein Pir2ARS2 mediates gene repression through cryptic introns in lncRNAs
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are components of epigenetic control mechanisms that ensure appropriate and timely gene expression. The functions of lncRNAs are often mediated through associated gene regulatory...
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Article
Open AccessA conserved dimer interface connects ERH and YTH family proteins to promote gene silencing
Gene regulatory mechanisms rely on a complex network of RNA processing factors to prevent untimely gene expression. In fission yeast, the highly conserved ortholog of human ERH, called Erh1, interacts with the...
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Article
Untimely expression of gametogenic genes in vegetative cells causes uniparental disomy
Uniparental disomy in fission yeast is triggered by aberrant expression of gametogenic genes in vegetative cells, and is associated with the activation of meiotic cohesin Rec8 in cells with defects in the RNA ...
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Article
Cohesin-dependent globules and heterochromatin shape 3D genome architecture in S. pombe
Genome-wide chromatin conformation capture (Hi-C) is used to investigate three-dimensional genome organization in Schizosaccharomyces pombe; small domains of chromatin interact locally on chromosome arms to form ...
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Article
RNAi triggered by specialized machinery silences developmental genes and retrotransposons
In the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe RNA interference (RNAi) machinery promotes heterochromatin assembly and silencing of centromeric repeats; here it is shown that RNAi participates in silencing other ...
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Article
Histone H2A.Z cooperates with RNAi and heterochromatin factors to suppress antisense RNAs
Unregulated transcription of antisense RNAs is potentially deleterious to a cell because sense–antisense pairing could affect gene expression. In this study, Zofall et al. examine how antisense transcription is h...
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Article
Cell cycle control of centromeric repeat transcription and heterochromatin assembly
RNA polymerase II transcribes heterochromatic repeat sequences preferentially during S-phase of the cell cycle, a timing that is enforced by heterochromatin restricting RNAPII access. Chromatin modifying enzym...
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Article
Host genome surveillance for retrotransposons by transposon-derived proteins
Transposable elements and their remnants constitute a substantial fraction of eukaryotic genomes. Host genomes have evolved defence mechanisms, including chromatin modifications and RNA interference, to regula...
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Article
Transcription and RNA interference in the formation of heterochromatin
Transcription in heterochromatin seems to be an oxymoron — surely the 'silenced' form of chromatin should not be transcribed. But there have been frequent reports of low-level transcription in heterochromatic ...