Embryonic piRNAs target horizontally transferred vertebrate transposons in assassin bugs.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Piwi proteins and the associated Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) coordinate a surveillance system that protects the animal genome from DNA damage induced by transposable element (TE) mobilization. While the pathway has been described in detail in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, much less is known in more basal insects. Rhodnius prolixus is an hemipteran insect and one of the major vectors of Chagas disease. Rhodnius acquired specific classes of horizontally transferred transposons (HTTs) by feeding on bats, opossums and squirrel monkeys, thus providing the opportunity to investigate the piRNA-base response against HTTs in this species.

Methods

SmallRNA-Seq reads mapping to HTTs and resident transposable elements were quantified and che

SUBMITTER: de Brito TF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11614815 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature