PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Kelly, W.G. AU - Fire, A. TI - Chromatin silencing and the maintenance of a functional germline in Caenorhabditis elegans DP - 1998 Jul 01 TA - Development PG - 2451--2456 VI - 125 IP - 13 4099 - http://dev.biologists.org/content/125/13/2451.short 4100 - http://dev.biologists.org/content/125/13/2451.full SO - Development1998 Jul 01; 125 AB - The germline of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans exhibits a remarkable ability to specifically silence transgenic DNA. We have shown that this silencing mechanism is disrupted in animals mutant for the maternal effect sterile genes mes-2, mes-3, mes-4 and mes-6. The proteins encoded by mes-2 and mes-6 have been shown to be related to the Polycomb Group of transcriptional repressors (Holdeman, R., Nehrt, S. and Strome, S. (1998). Development 125, 2457–2467; Korf, I., Fan, F. and Strome, S. (1998). Development 125, 2469–2478). These results suggest that a genetic silencing process is essential for sustained germline function, and that this silencing is mediated, at least in part, by Polycomb Group proteins.