To export, or not to export: How nuclear export factor variants resolve Piwi’s dilemma

Sheng Wang, Xiaohua Lu, Ding Qiu, Yang Yu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) defend animal gonads by guiding PIWI-clade Argonaute proteins to silence transposons. The nuclear Piwi/piRNA complexes confer transcriptional repression of transposons, which is accompanied with heterochromatin formation at target loci. On the other hand, piRNA clusters, genomic loci that transcribe piRNA precursors composed of transposon fragments, are often recognized by piRNAs to define their heterochromatic identity. Therefore, Piwi/piRNA complexes must resolve this conundrum of silencing transposons while allowing the expression of piRNA precursors, at least in Drosophila germlines. This review is focused on recent advances how the piRNA pathway deals with this genetic conflict.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2073-2079
Number of pages7
JournalBiochemical Society Transactions
Volume49
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2021
Externally publishedYes

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