Paramutation in Drosophila Requires Both Nuclear and Cytoplasmic Actors of the piRNA Pathway and Induces Cis-spreading of piRNA Production.

ABSTRACT: Transposable element activity is repressed in the germline in animals by PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), a class of small RNAs produced by genomic loci mostly composed of TE sequences. The mechanism of induction of piRNA production by these loci is still enigmatic. We have shown that, in Drosophila melanogaster, a cluster of tandemly repeated P-lacZ-white transgenes can be activated for piRNA production by maternal inheritance of a cytoplasm containing homologous piRNAs. This activated state is stably transmitted over generations and allows trans-silencing of a homologous transgenic target in the female germline. Such an epigenetic conversion displays the functional characteristics of a paramutation, i.e., a heritable epigenetic modification of one allele by the other. We report here that

SUBMITTER: Hermant C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4676525 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature