Posner, Rachel et al. (2017) International Worm Meeting "Gene regulation via non-cell autonomous acting small RNAs in C. elegans."

Azmon, Eran, Star, Ekaterina, Anava, Sarit, Rechavi, Oded, Posner, Rachel, Hobert, Oliver, Gingold, Hila, Bracha, Shahar

[International Worm Meeting, 2017]

Exposure of C. elegans to artificial dsRNA can trigger exogenous small RNA-mediated silencing that transmits from somatic cells to the germline, and persists for multiple generations. However, it is unknown whether endogenous types of small RNAs (miRNAs, piRNAs and endo-siRNAs) produce systematic responses and what type of effect they may have on gene regulation. Our recent results suggest that endogenous siRNAs act in a non-cell autonomous manner, orchestrating gene silencing between tissues. We will present a dissection of the major components of the RNAi pathway required for non-cell autonomous gene regulation by endo-siRNAs and provide evidence possibly linking the regulation of physiological phenotypes to small RNAs mobilizing between tissues.