Candidate genes surveyed for H3K9me2 and Ego phenotypes.

All genes were tested using a deletion mutant (see Materials and Methods) except for the following, for which we knocked down the protein using RNAi: C08B11.2/hda-2, C10E2.8/hda-4, C35A5.9, K04G7.3/ogt-1, T22B7.1/egl-13/cog-2, and ZK1127.7/cin-4. Ego phenotype means all germ cells prematurely exited mitosis, entered meiosis, and underwent gametogenesis. Δ H3K9me2 means a change in the distribution and/or level of H3K9me2 in the meiotic germ line. We previously reported that mutations in the Argonaute genes rde-1 and alg-1 did not visibly alter the pattern of H3K9me2 accumulation during meiosis [9]. Additional putative Piwi/Argonaute genes, previously reported in the literature and now thought to be pseudogenes, are not listed here (http://www.wormbase.org). Gln, germ line; Co-sup, co-suppression; T silence, transposon silencing; Tc3 silence, Tc3 silencing; 21U-RNA, 21U-RNA regulation; HDAC, histone deacetylase; NAP, nucleosome assembly protein. NR, none reported. 1Contains leucine zipper, Zinc finger, and PHD/LAP domains; homologous to human AF10. 2O-linked N-acetylglucosamine transferase. 3Homology to human glioma-amplified sequence 41, yeast transcription factor AF-9, and human transcription factor ENL. 4Related to transcription factor SOX5. 5DNA topoisomerase, type IIA. 6Loss of gene function causes sterility.