Conserved but mechanistically diverse piRNA defence against endogenous retroviruses in insects

ABSTRACT: Defence systems against genetic mobile elements are highly adaptable, yet their long-term evolutionary stability remains unclear. To address this, we examined the conservation of Piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA)-mediated defence against envelope-carrying gypsy long terminal repeat retrotransposons across insects beyond Drosophila. We show that Aedes aegypti and Anopheles stephensi, as well as Tetragonula carbonaria, Acheta domesticus and Teleogryllus oceanicus, all produce piRNAs targeting gypsy elements in ovarian somatic cells - the same cellular niche where Drosophila mounts piRNA defence against gypsy - indicating a persistent arms race for more than 400 million years of insect evolution. Notably, in Aedes aegypti, ovarian somatic cells express the same piRNA clusters as other somatic tiss

SUBMITTER: Rippei Hayashi 

PROVIDER: S-SCDT-10_1038-S44319-026-00741-4 | biostudies-other |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other