Sequential rounds of RNA-dependent RNA transcription drive endogenous small-RNA biogenesis in ERGO-1/Argonaute pathway

Argonaute (AGO) proteins interact with distinct classes of small RNAs to direct multiple regulatory outcomes. In many organisms, including plants, fungi and nematodes, cellular RNAdependent RNA polymerases (RdRPs) utilize AGO targets as templates for amplification of silencing signals. Here, we show that distinct RdRPs function sequentially to produce small RNAs that target endogenous loci in C. elegans. We show that DCR-1, the RdRP RRF-3, and the dsRNA-binding protein RDE-4, are required for the biogenesis of 26nt RNAs, termed 26GRNAs, and that 26G-RNAs engage the Piwi-clade AGO, ERGO-1. Our findings support a model in which targeting by ERGO-1 recruits a second RdRP (RRF-1 or EGO-1), which in turn transcribes 22G-RNAs that interact with worm-specific AGOs (WAGOs) to direct gene silencing. ERGO-1 targets exhibit a non-random distribution in the genome and appear to include many gene duplications, suggesting that this pathway may control over-expression resulting from gene expansion. Overall design: 8 samples examined. Small RNA libraries generated from: C. elegans animals.