Clr4SUV39H1 ubiquitination and non-coding RNA mediate transcriptional silencing via heterochromatic phase transitions

Transcriptional silencing by RNAi paradoxically relies on transcription, but how the transition from transcription to silencing is achieved has remained unclear. The Cryptic Loci Regulator complex (CLRC) in Schizosaccharomyces pombe is a cullin-ring E3 ligase required for silencing that is recruited by RNAi. We found that the E2 ubiquitin conjugating enzyme Ubc4 interacts with CLRC and mono-ubiquitinates the histone H3K9 methyltransferase Clr4SUV39H1, promoting the transition from co-transcriptional gene silencing (H3K9me2) to transcriptional gene silencing (H3K9me3). Ubiquitination of Clr4 occurs in an intrinsically disordered region (IDR), which undergoes robust liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), along with Swi6HP1 the effector of transcriptional gene silencing. Phase separation of Clr4 and Swi6 is exquisitely sensitive to non-coding RNA (ncRNA), which promotes dimerization, chromatin association, and di-, but not tri-methylation instead. Ubc4-CLRC also targets the transcriptional co-activator Bdf2BRD4, down-regulating centromeric transcription and small RNA production. The deubiquitinase Ubp3 counteracts both activities.