TEX15 silences transposable elements in male germ cells

This SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below. DNA methylation is a major silencing mechanism of transposable elements (TEs). Here we report that TEX15, a testis-specific protein, is required for TE silencing. TEX15 is both cytoplasmic and nuclear in embryonic germ cells and functions during genome-wide epigenetic reprogramming. Tex15 mutant exhibits DNA hypomethylation in TEs at a level similar to Mili but not Miwi2 mutant. As loss of Tex15 causes TE de-silencing without abolishing piRNA production, our results identify TEX15 as a new essential epigenetic regulator that appears to function independently or downstream of the piRNA biogenesis machineries to silence TEs by DNA methylation in male germ cells. Refer to individual Series