Abstract
Retrotransposon Silencing by piRNAs: Ping-Pong Players Mark Their Sub-Cellular Boundaries
Highlights
Almost a century after the first description of germ granules [1], this longstanding enigma, or at least a part of it, is being unraveled
Germ cells of many animals, from worms to mammals, are equipped with specific members of the argonaute subfamily, the piwi proteins, which associate with piwi-interacting small RNAs, and this small RNA pathway is critical for retrotransposon silencing in the germline [3]
In this issue of PLoS Genetics, Aravin and colleagues in the Bortvin and Hannon groups report the remarkable finding that both piwi proteins exhibit distinct subcellular compartmentalization in fetal prospermatogonia/gonocytes, wherein retrotransposon silencing is established during male germline development [7]
Summary
Almost a century after the first description of germ granules [1], this longstanding enigma, or at least a part of it, is being unraveled. Accumulating evidence points to a close association of germ granules with retrotransposon control and, especially, the piwi-small RNA pathway.
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