RNA

RNAi silences repeats but how repeats are recognized is mysterious.  In Cryptococcus neoformans, tandem repeats can trigger heritable RNA silencing via a four protein complex we identified called SCANR, which contains an Argonaute homolog, an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, a passenger strand nuclease called Qip1 and a scaffold protein called Gwc1. We seek to understand how cells initially recognize tandem repeats and how this triggers epigenetic silencing.