In a recent report, Moazed, Grewal, and colleagues (Verdel et al., 2004) characterize the RITS (RNA induced initiation of transcriptional silencing) protein complex in fission yeast. They provide a sought-for link between the small RNA produced by the RNA interference machinery and heterochromatin components, suggesting a mechanism for how heterochromatin formation can be targeted in trans to specific chromosomal regions.