Germline Blastomeres transcriptomics in the presence or absence of PIE-1 during C. elegans early embryogenesis

Abstract

In Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) embryos, specification of the germ lineage relies on the maternal protein PIE-1. Here, we isolated somatic and germline blastomeres and performed specific transcriptomics in the presence or absence of PIE-1. These experiments enforce that PIE-1 maintains the identity of germline blastomeres by downregulating the accumulation of somatic RNAs but they also reveal a role for PIE-1 in sustaining the steady-state level of both maternally contributed as well as de novo transcribed germline-specific mRNAs in the early embryo. The present dataset represents a first blastomere-specific transcriptomic analyses of PIE-1 role and will serve as a comprehensive resource to highlight the mechanistic details of PIE-1 function in defining germline blastomere transcriptional identity.