The CRISPR RNA-guided Cas9 nuclease gene-targeting system has been successfully used for genome editing in a variety of organisms. Here, we report the use of dual sgRNA-guided Cas9 nuclease to generate knockout mutants of protein coding genes, noncoding genes, and repetitive sequences in C. elegans. Co-injection of C. elegans with dual sgRNAs results in the removal of the interval between two sgRNAs and the loss-of-function phenotype of targeted genes. We sought to determine how large an interval can be eliminated and found that at least a 24 kb chromosome segment can be deleted using this dual sgRNA/Cas9 strategy. The deletion of large chromosome segments facilitates mutant screening by PCR and agarose electrophoresis. Thus, the use of the CRISPR/Cas9 system in combination with dual sgRNAs provides a powerful platform with which to easily generate gene knockout mutants in C. elegans. Our data also suggest that encoding multiple sgRNA sequences into a single CRISPR array to simultaneously edit several sites within the genome may cause the off-target deletion of chromosome sequences.

Expression of rRNA affects cell growth and proliferation, but mechanisms that modulate rRNA levels are poorly understood. We conducted a genetic screen for factors that negatively regulate generation of endogenous short interfering RNA (endo-siRNA) in Caenorhabditis elegans and identified a suppressor of siRNA (susi-1) and antisense ribosomal siRNAs (risiRNAs). risiRNAs show sequence complementary to 18S and 26S rRNAs and require RNA-dependent RNA polymerases (RdRPs) for their production. They act through the nuclear RNA interference (RNAi) pathway to downregulate pre-rRNA. Stress stimuli, including low temperature and UV irradiation, induced the accumulation of risiRNAs. SUSI-1 is a homolog of the human DIS3L2 exonuclease involved in 3'-5' degradation of oligouridylated RNAs. In susi-1 mutant and in low temperature-treated animals, 3'-tail oligouridylated 26S rRNA accumulated. The injection of oligouridylated rRNA elicited nuclear accumulation of NRDE-3. Our findings identify a new subset of 22G-RNAs that regulate pre-rRNA expression and a mechanism to maintain rRNA homeostasis.

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Eukaryotic cells express a wide variety of endogenous small regulatory RNAs that function in the nucleus. We previously found that erroneous rRNAs induce the generation of antisense ribosomal siRNAs (risiRNAs) which silence the expression of rRNAs via the nuclear RNAi defective (Nrde) pathway. To further understand the biological roles and mechanisms of this class of small regulatory RNAs, we conducted forward genetic screening to identify factors involved in risiRNA generation in Caenorhabditis elegans. We found that risiRNAs accumulated in the RNA exosome mutants. risiRNAs directed the association of NRDE proteins with pre-rRNAs and the silencing of pre-rRNAs. In the presence of risiRNAs, NRDE-2 accumulated in the nucleolus and colocalized with RNA polymerase I. risiRNAs inhibited the transcription elongation of RNA polymerase I by decreasing RNAP I occupancy downstream of the RNAi-targeted site. Meanwhile, exosomes mislocalized from the nucleolus to nucleoplasm in suppressor of siRNA (susi) mutants, in which erroneous rRNAs accumulated. These results established a novel model of rRNA surveillance by combining ribonuclease-mediated RNA degradation with small RNA-directed nucleolar RNAi system.