A C. elegans LSD1 Demethylase Contributes to Germline Immortality by Reprogramming Epigenetic Memory

Microarray-based expression profiling of mixed stage populations taken from generation 1,13 and 26 spr-5 mutant animals as well as wild-type animals reveals a large class of spermatogenesis-expressed genes whose expression coordinately increased from generations 1 to 13 and then decreased from generations 13 to 26 in spr-5(by101) mutants. These results suggest that a failure to reset spermatogenesis acquired H3K4me2 may result in the progressive sterility that is observed in spr-5 mutants. 8ug of total RNA was hybridized pair-wise, along with a dye flip, from N2 (wild-type) f1 and spr-5(by101) mutant f1, f13 and f26, for a total of 12 arrays. RNA was labelled with the Genisphere Array350 system.