An RNA Endonuclease-Kinase Complex Required for Spreading and Epigenetic Inheritance of Heterochromatin

The highly conserved multienzyme Rix1-containing complex (hereafter referred to as the rixosome), is required for ribosomal RNA (rRNA) processing and also localizes to heterochromatin in fission yeast, but its role in heterochromatin formation is unknown. Here we report the isolation of separation of function mutations in subunits of the rixosome that abolish its physical association with Swi6/HP1 and localization to heterochromatin, but do not affect growth or rRNA processing. These mutations abolish the epigenetic inheritance of silencing and histone H3 lysine 9 methylation (H3K9me), accumulate heterochromatic RNAs, and cannot spread H3K9me and silencing away from nucleation sites into an inserted transgene. We further show that the rixosome acts upstream of the conserved 5'-3' exoribonuclease Dhp1/XRN2 to promote heterochromatic RNA degradation. These findings reveal a new RNA degradation pathway that specifically localizes to heterochromatin to degrade nascent transcripts and enable heterochromatin spreading and inheritance. Overall design: ChIP-seq analysis of histone modifications and chromatin associated proteins