[{"article_number":"10758","das_tickbox":"1","supplementarymaterial":"yes","acknowledgement":"We thank Michael J. Axtell for generously sharing ago4-4 ago6-2, ago6-2 ago9-1 double and ago4-4 ago6-2 ago9-1 triple mutants. We thank the John Innes Centre Bioimaging Facility and ISTA Imaging and Optics Facility for their assistance with the confocal microscopy, and the ISTA Scientific Computing Facility for high performance computing resources. This work was funded by a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (101153710; C.Y.), a European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101034413 (ISTA Bridge Fellowship) (S.X.), a DFG grant (FOR 5235 CSCS; A.S.), a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant (804981; X.F) and an ERC Consolidator Grant (101126201; C.Y. and XF).","article_processing_charge":"Yes","OA_type":"gold","type":"journal_article","pmid":1,"title":"Multiple Argonaute complexes orchestrate epigenetic silencing in the Arabidopsis germline","intvolume":"        17","has_accepted_license":"1","abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"Small RNAs (sRNAs) are widespread across diverse flowering plant species and play important roles regulating reproduction and environmental responses. However, how sRNAs exert their function is largely unknown, likely due to their typical origin in non-genic regions, the lack of distinct gene targets, and the sparse characterization of their associated Argonaute (AGO) effector proteins. Here we show that Arabidopsis male reproductive sRNAs associate with AGO4, 5, 6 and 9, all of which are enriched in meiocytes along with RNA Polymerase V (Pol V). This enables these sRNAs to methylate loci with imperfect sequence homology. AGO4, AGO6 and AGO9 predominantly load 24-nucleotide (nt) Pol IV-derived sRNAs and mediate DNA methylation in meiocytes in a dosage-dependent manner. Despite closer homology to microRNA-associated AGO1 and AGO10, AGO5 primarily binds CLSY3- and Pol IV-derived 21-24 nt sRNAs. Transcriptomic and methylomic analyses of meiocytes from single and compound ago mutants demonstrate distinct yet complementary roles of AGO4/6/9 and AGO5 in regulating protein-coding genes and silencing transposons in the germline. These molecular disruptions are accompanied by significant meiotic defects. Together, our findings reveal how AGO4/6/9-mediated DNA methylation and AGO5, likely acting through post-transcriptional gene silencing, work together to promote male germline development."}],"year":"2026","publication":"Nature Communications","date_updated":"2026-10-28T08:43:20Z","researchdata_availability":"yes","file":[{"content_type":"application/pdf","checksum":"f24efcba89d880d48fef04b780923780","date_created":"2026-10-28T08:41:06Z","file_size":4220128,"success":1,"relation":"main_file","creator":"dernst","file_name":"2026_NatureComm_Long.pdf","date_updated":"2026-10-28T08:41:06Z","access_level":"open_access","file_id":"23204"}],"month":"10","_id":"23198","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"oa_version":"Published Version","corr_author":"1","scopus_import":"1","date_created":"2026-10-27T10:38:56Z","day":"14","ddc":["580"],"ec_funded":1,"publication_status":"published","oa":1,"project":[{"grant_number":"101153710","_id":"8e917275-16d5-11f0-9cad-fee255fa62e0","name":"The moleculaR mEchAnismS Of dNa methylatIon reprogrammiNg in Arabidopsis sexual lineaGe"},{"call_identifier":"H2020","name":"IST-BRIDGE: International postdoctoral program","_id":"fc2ed2f7-9c52-11eb-aca3-c01059dda49c","grant_number":"101034413"},{"call_identifier":"H2020","name":"Establishment, modulation and inheritance of sexual lineage specific DNA methylation in plants","_id":"bdb51a6e-d553-11ed-ba76-c2025f3d5725","grant_number":"804981"},{"_id":"7c012eb8-9f16-11ee-852c-dc2b6371d5a0","name":"Mechanisms and biological functions of H3K27me3 reprogramming in plant microspores","grant_number":"101126201"}],"tmp":{"short":"CC BY (4.0)","image":"/images/cc_by.png","name":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)","legal_code_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode"},"volume":17,"dataavailabilitystatement":"Illumina sequencing data (RIP-seq, BS-seq, and RNA-seq) generated in this study have been deposited in the NCBI BioProject and are accessible under accession number PRJNA1192978. Published BS-seq data of Arabidopsis meiocyte used in this study for Fig. 4a are available in the NCBI GEO database under accession code GSE161625. All custom codes are available via the request to the corresponding author.","fulldoi":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77326-1","user_id":"2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","department":[{"_id":"XiFe"}],"doi":"10.1038/s41467-026-77326-1","file_date_updated":"2026-10-28T08:41:06Z","article_type":"original","PlanS_conform":"1","DOAJ_listed":"1","publication_identifier":{"eissn":["2041-1723"]},"external_id":{"pmid":["42869904"]},"date_published":"2026-10-14T00:00:00Z","status":"public","publisher":"Springer Nature","citation":{"ista":"Long J, Yang C, Xu S, De Jaeger-Braet JG, She W, Ono S, Walker J, de Souza Vieira Y, Schnittger A, Feng X. 2026. Multiple Argonaute complexes orchestrate epigenetic silencing in the Arabidopsis germline. Nature Communications. 17, 10758.","mla":"Long, Jincheng, et al. “Multiple Argonaute Complexes Orchestrate Epigenetic Silencing in the Arabidopsis Germline.” <i>Nature Communications</i>, vol. 17, 10758, Springer Nature, 2026, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77326-1\">10.1038/s41467-026-77326-1</a>.","ama":"Long J, Yang C, Xu S, et al. Multiple Argonaute complexes orchestrate epigenetic silencing in the Arabidopsis germline. <i>Nature Communications</i>. 2026;17. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77326-1\">10.1038/s41467-026-77326-1</a>","apa":"Long, J., Yang, C., Xu, S., De Jaeger-Braet, J. G., She, W., Ono, S., … Feng, X. (2026). Multiple Argonaute complexes orchestrate epigenetic silencing in the Arabidopsis germline. <i>Nature Communications</i>. Springer Nature. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77326-1\">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77326-1</a>","chicago":"Long, Jincheng, Chao Yang, Shujuan Xu, Joke G De Jaeger-Braet, Wenjing She, Seijiro Ono, James Walker, Ygor de Souza Vieira, Arp Schnittger, and Xiaoqi Feng. “Multiple Argonaute Complexes Orchestrate Epigenetic Silencing in the Arabidopsis Germline.” <i>Nature Communications</i>. Springer Nature, 2026. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77326-1\">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77326-1</a>.","short":"J. Long, C. Yang, S. Xu, J.G. De Jaeger-Braet, W. She, S. Ono, J. Walker, Y. de Souza Vieira, A. Schnittger, X. Feng, Nature Communications 17 (2026).","ieee":"J. Long <i>et al.</i>, “Multiple Argonaute complexes orchestrate epigenetic silencing in the Arabidopsis germline,” <i>Nature Communications</i>, vol. 17. Springer Nature, 2026."},"quality_controlled":"1","author":[{"last_name":"Long","first_name":"Jincheng","full_name":"Long, Jincheng"},{"id":"082e3e6e-8069-11ed-8390-c8cce7b1aaca","last_name":"Yang","first_name":"Chao","full_name":"Yang, Chao"},{"first_name":"Shujuan","full_name":"Xu, Shujuan","id":"9724dd9d-f591-11ee-bd51-e97ed0652286","last_name":"Xu"},{"full_name":"De Jaeger-Braet, Joke G","first_name":"Joke G","last_name":"De Jaeger-Braet","id":"26bd38d3-c59a-11ee-a1af-d7a988cafcc5"},{"last_name":"She","full_name":"She, Wenjing","first_name":"Wenjing"},{"last_name":"Ono","first_name":"Seijiro","full_name":"Ono, Seijiro"},{"last_name":"Walker","full_name":"Walker, James","first_name":"James"},{"first_name":"Ygor","full_name":"de Souza Vieira, Ygor","id":"af019b77-d2a9-11f1-9e65-c47a5932b764","last_name":"de Souza Vieira"},{"last_name":"Schnittger","first_name":"Arp","full_name":"Schnittger, Arp"},{"orcid":"0000-0002-4008-1234","id":"e0164712-22ee-11ed-b12a-d80fcdf35958","last_name":"Feng","first_name":"Xiaoqi","full_name":"Feng, Xiaoqi"}],"OA_place":"publisher"}]