RESEARCH ARTICLE A tudor domain protein, SIMR-1, promotes siRNA production at piRNA- targeted mRNAs in C. elegans Kevin I Manage1, Alicia K Rogers1, Dylan C Wallis1, Celja J Uebel1, Dorian C Anderson1, Dieu An H Nguyen1, Katerina Arca1, Kristen C Brown2,3, Ricardo J Cordeiro Rodrigues4,5, Bruno FM de Albuquerque4, Rene´ F Ketting4, Taiowa A Montgomery2, Carolyn Marie Phillips1* 1Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States; 2Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, United States; 3Cell and Molecular Biology Program, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, United States; 4Biology of Non-coding RNA Group, Institute of Molecular Biology, Mainz, Germany; 5International PhD Programme on Gene Regulation, Epigenetics, and Genome Stability, Mainz, Germany Abstract piRNAs play a critical role in the regulation of transposons and other germline genes. In Caenorhabditis elegans, regulation of piRNA target genes is mediated by the mutator complex, which synthesizes high levels of siRNAs through the activity of an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. However, the steps between mRNA recognition by the piRNA pathway and siRNA amplification by the mutator complex are unknown. Here, we identify the Tudor domain protein, SIMR-1, as acting downstream of piRNA production and upstream of mutator complex-dependent siRNA biogenesis. Interestingly, SIMR-1 also localizes to distinct subcellular foci adjacent to P granules and Mutator foci, two phase-separated condensates that are the sites of piRNA- dependent mRNA recognition and mutator complex-dependent siRNA amplification, respectively. *For correspondence: Thus, our data suggests a role for multiple perinuclear condensates in organizing the piRNA
[email protected] pathway and promoting mRNA regulation by the mutator complex.