PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Cecilia Oliver
AU  - German Martinez
TI  - Expression dynamics of ARGONAUTE proteins during meiosis in Arabidopsis
AID  - 10.1101/2021.10.08.462716
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.10.08.462716
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/10/09/2021.10.08.462716.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/10/09/2021.10.08.462716.full
AB  - Meiosis is a specialized cell division that is key for reproduction and genetic diversity in sexually reproducing plants. Recently, different RNA silencing pathways have been proposed to carry a specific activity during meiosis, but the pathways involved during this process remain unclear. Here, we explored the subcellular localization of different ARGONAUTE (AGO) proteins, the main effectors of RNA silencing, during male meiosis in Arabidopsis thaliana using immunolocalizations with commercially available antibodies. We detected the presence of AGO proteins associated with posttranscriptional gene silencing (AGO1, 2 and 5) in the cytoplasm or the nucleus, while AGOs associated with transcriptional gene silencing (AGO4 and 9) localized exclusively in the nucleus. These results indicate that the localization of different AGOs correlates with their predicted roles at the transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels and provide an overview of their timing and potential role during meiosis.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.