RNA Polymerase V transcription guides ARGONAUTE4 to chromatin

Retrotransposons and repetitive DNA elements in eukaryotes are silenced by small RNA-directed heterochromatin formation. In Arabidopsis, this process involves 24 nt siRNAs that bind to ARGONAUTE4 (AGO4) and facilitate the targeting of complementary loci1,2 via unknown mechanisms. Nuclear RNA Polymerase V is an RNA silencing enzyme recently shown to generate noncoding transcripts at loci silenced by 24nt siRNAs3. We show that AGO4 physically interacts with these Pol V transcripts and is thereby recruited to the corresponding chromatin. We further show that DEFECTIVE IN MERISTEM SILENCING3 (DMS3), a Structural Maintenance of Chromosomes (SMC) hinge-domain protein4, functions in the assembly of Pol V transcription initiation or elongation complexes. Collectively, our data suggest that AGO4 is guided to target loci through base-pairing of associated siRNAs with nascent Pol V transcripts.