Transposon defense by endo-siRNAs, piRNAs and somatic pilRNAs in Drosophila: contributions of Loqs-PD and R2D2.

ABSTRACT: Transposable elements are a serious threat for genome integrity and their control via small RNA mediated silencing pathways is an ancient strategy. The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has two silencing activities that target transposons: endogenous siRNAs (esiRNAs or endo-siRNAs) and Piwi-interacting small RNAs (piRNAs). The biogenesis of endo-siRNAs involves the Dicer-2 co-factors Loqs-PD, which acts predominantly during processing of dsRNA by Dcr-2, and R2D2, which primarily helps to direct siRNAs into the RNA interference effector Ago2. Nonetheless, loss of either protein is not sufficient to produce a phenotype comparable with a dcr-2 mutation. We provide further deep sequencing evidence supporting the notion that R2D2 and Loqs-PD have partially overlapping function. Certain transpos

SUBMITTER: Mirkovic-Hosle M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3890300 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature