The Tudor domain protein Tapas, a homolog of the vertebrate Tdrd7, functions in the piRNA pathway to regulate retrotransposons in germline of Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are a special class of small RNAs that provide defense against transposable elements in animal germline cells. In Drosophila, germline piRNAs are thought to be processed at a unique perinuclear structure, the nuage, that houses piRNA pathway proteins including the Piwi clade of Argonaute family proteins, along with several Tudor domain proteins, RNA helicases and nucleases. We previously demonstrated that Tudor domain protein Tejas (Tej), an ortholog of vertebrate Tdrd5, is an important component of the piRNA pathway.

Results

In the current study, we identified the paralog of the Drosophila tej gene, tapas (tap), which is an ortholog of vertebrate Tdrd7. Like Tej, Tap is localized at the nuage. Alone, tap loss leads to a mild increas

SUBMITTER: Patil VS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4210518 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature