Piwi induces piRNA-guided transcriptional silencing and establishment of a repressive chromatin state

In the Metazoan germline, piwi proteins and associated piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) provide a defense system against the expression of transposable elements. In the cytoplasm, piRNA sequences guide piwi complexes to destroy complementary transposon transcripts by endonucleolytic cleavage. However, some piwi family members are nuclear, raising the possibility of alternative pathways for piRNA-mediated regulation of gene expression. We found that Drosophila Piwi is recruited to chromatin, co-localizing with RNA polymerase II on polytene chromosomes. Knockdown of Piwi in the germline increases expression of transposable elements that are targeted by piRNAs, whereas protein-coding genes remain largely unaffected. De-repression of transposons upon Piwi depletion correlates with increased occupancy of RNA polymerase II on their promoters. Expression of piRNAs that target a reporter construct results in a decrease in Pol II occupancy and an increase in repressive H3K9me3 marks and HP1 on the reporter locus. Our results indicate that Piwi identifies targets complementary to the associated piRNA and induces transcriptional repression by establishing a repressive chromatin state when correct targets are found. Examination of mRNA levels, Pol II occupancy, and chromatin repressive state in D. melanogaster ovaries upon Piwi knockdown and Piwi mutation. This records present the sequencing data related to Piwi knockdown study portion.