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PMID: 18571451 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Piwi and piRNAs act upstream of an endogenous siRNA pathway to suppress Tc3 transposon mobility in the Caenorhabditis elegans germline.

Molecular cell ·Vol. 31 ·No. 1 ·2008-07-11 ·Pages 79-90

Das PP, Bagijn MP, Goldstein LD, Woolford JR, Lehrbach NJ, Sapetschnig A, Buhecha HR, Gilchrist MJ, Howe KL, Stark R, Matthews N, Berezikov E, Ketting RF, Tavaré S, Miska EA

Abstract

The Piwi proteins of the Argonaute superfamily are required for normal germline development in Drosophila, zebrafish, and mice and associate with 24-30 nucleotide RNAs termed piRNAs. We identify a class of 21 nucleotide RNAs, previously named 21U-RNAs, as the piRNAs of C. elegans. Piwi and piRNA expression is restricted to the male and female germline and independent of many proteins in other small-RNA pathways, including DCR-1. We show that Piwi is specifically required to silence Tc3, but not other Tc/mariner DNA transposons. Tc3 excision rates in the germline are increased at least 100-fold in piwi mutants as compared to wild-type. We find no evidence for a Ping-Pong model for piRNA amplification in C. elegans. Instead, we demonstrate that Piwi acts upstream of an endogenous siRNA pathway in Tc3 silencing. These data might suggest a link between piRNA and siRNA function.

MeSH Terms
Animals Argonaute Proteins Caenorhabditis elegans/genetics,metabolism Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins/metabolism DNA Transposable Elements/genetics Drosophila Proteins Female Gene Silencing Genes, Helminth Germ Cells/growth & development,metabolism Male Proteins/genetics,metabolism RNA, Helminth/metabolism RNA, Small Interfering/metabolism RNA-Induced Silencing Complex Transposases/metabolism
Chemicals
Argonaute Proteins Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins DNA Transposable Elements Drosophila Proteins PRG-1 protein, C elegans PRG-2 protein, C elegans Proteins RNA, Helminth RNA, Small Interfering RNA-Induced Silencing Complex piwi protein, Drosophila Transposases
Authors & Affiliations
15 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Das Partha P
Wellcome Trust Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QN, UK.
Bagijn Marloes P
Goldstein Leonard D
Woolford Julie R
Lehrbach Nicolas J
Sapetschnig Alexandra
Buhecha Heeran R
Gilchrist Michael J
Howe Kevin L
Stark Rory
Matthews Nik
Berezikov Eugene
Ketting René F
Tavaré Simon
Miska Eric A
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Article Info
Journal
Molecular cell
Abbr.
Mol Cell
ISSN
1097-4164
DOI
10.1016/j.molcel.2008.06.003
Published
2008-07-11
Epub
2008-00-19
Pages
79-90
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
9802571
PMCID
PMC3353317
Subset
IM
Grants
Wellcome Trust · 092096 · United Kingdom
Medical Research Council · United Kingdom
Cancer Research UK · C13474 · United Kingdom
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2008.06.003 PMC Full Text View journal details
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