Diversification of the Caenorhabditis heat shock response by Helitron transposable elements

• DOI: 10.7554/elife.51139
• Publication Date: 2019-12-11T13:00:44Z
• Authors: Jacob M Garrigues; Brian V Tsu; Matthew D Daugherty; Amy E Pasquinelli
• Keywords: Heat shock factor; Caenorhabditis; Retrotransposon

Heat Shock Factor 1 (HSF-1) is a key regulator of the heat shock response (HSR). Upon shock, HSF-1 binds well-conserved motifs, called Elements (HSEs), and drives expression genes important for cellular protection during this stress. Remarkably, we found that substantial numbers HSEs in multiple Caenorhabditis species reside within Helitrons, type DNA transposon. Consistent with Helitron-embedded being functional, upon they display increased RNA polymerase II occupancy up-regulation nearby C. elegans. Interestingly, different appear to be incorporated into HSR by species-specific Helitron insertions elegans briggsae strain-specific among wild isolates Our studies uncover previously unidentified targets show are responsible rewiring diversifying HSR.