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. 2021 Mar 4;12:1441. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-21691-6

Fig. 7. Model illustrating CSR-1-dependent clearance of maternal mRNA in C. elegans embryos.

Fig. 7

During early embryogenesis, maternally inherited CSR-1 protein targets untranslated early-degraded maternal mRNAs for slicer-dependent degradation in somatic blastomeres. The presence of ribosomes on translated late-degraded maternal mRNAs might prevent CSR-1 accessibility and accumulation of new 22G-RNA antisense to the gene body. RNA in the germline blastomere might be protected from CSR-1 slicer activity. A fraction of maternal cleared RNAs not targeted by CSR-1 might be degraded by yet uncharacterized mechanisms. The CSR-1 pathway is an additional inherited mechanism that contributes to quicken the degradation of abundantly inherited mRNAs cleared during early embryogenesis.