Evidence for the absence of meiotic silencing by unpaired DNA in Neurospora tetrasperma

Abstract

Meiotic silencing by unpaired DNA is a posttranscriptional gene silencing process in Neurospora crassa. Any gene without a homolog in the same chromosomal position during meiotic prophase generates a sequence-specific signal that prevents expression of all copies of that gene, but only during meiosis. Meiotic silencing is epigenetic and involves components of a meiosis-specific RNA silencing machinery. Although N. tetrasperma is closely related to N. crassa, its sexual biology is significantly different. N. tetrasperma was used here to evaluate both the generality of meiotic silencing within the genus and its possible evolutionary significance. A reporter gene for meiotic silencing, a histone H1-GFP fusion construct, was introgressed from N. crassa into various chromosome locations in N. tetrasperma. Whereas we did not observe meiotic silencing in four out of five introgression series, we obtained inconclusive results in the fifth series. Thus, we propose that meiotic silencing in N. tetrasperma is either absent or is substantially reduced when compared to N. crassa, possibly because the sad-1 gene (RNA-directed RNA polymerase, RdRP) is naturally unsynapsed (although “paired”) and self-silenced during meiosis by structural differences between N. tetrasperma mating-type chromosomes. In N. crassa, wild-type sad-1 function is essential for meiotic silencing. Many point mutations in or deletion of sad-1 result in self-silencing of RdRP, and consequently suppression of meiotic silencing in heterozygous asci. The apparent absence or reduced meiotic silencing in N. tetrasperma raises the possibility that this form of silencing is not necessarily a major genome defense mechanism or responsible for reproductive isolation among the species of the genus Neurospora.