Contrasting Sex-and Caste-Dependent piRNA Profiles in the Transposon Depleted Haplodiploid Honeybee Apis mellifera.

ABSTRACT: Protecting genome integrity against transposable elements is achieved by intricate molecular mechanisms involving PIWI proteins, their associated small RNAs (piRNAs), and epigenetic modifiers such as DNA methylation. Eusocial bees, in particular the Western honeybee, Apis mellifera, have one of the lowest contents of transposable elements in the animal kingdom, and, unlike other animals with a functional DNA methylation system, appear not to methylate their transposons. This raises the question of whether the PIWI machinery has been retained in this species. Using comparative genomics, mass spectrometry, and expressional profiling, we present seminal evidence that the piRNA system is conserved in honeybees. We show that honey bee piRNAs contain a 2'-O-methyl modification at the 3' end, and

SUBMITTER: Wang W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5452642 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature