Large Drosophila germline piRNA clusters are evolutionarily labile and dispensable for transposon regulation
PIWI proteins and their guiding Piwi-interacting small RNAs (piRNAs) are crucial for fertility and transposon defense in the animal germline. In most species, the majority of piRNAs are produced from distinct large genomic loci, called piRNA clusters. It is assumed that germline-expressed piRNA clus...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier BV
2022
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/146884 |
| _version_ | 1826214387258490880 |
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| author | Gebert, Daniel Neubert, Lena K Lloyd, Catrin Gui, Jinghua Lehmann, Ruth Teixeira, Felipe Karam |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology Gebert, Daniel Neubert, Lena K Lloyd, Catrin Gui, Jinghua Lehmann, Ruth Teixeira, Felipe Karam |
| author_sort | Gebert, Daniel |
| collection | MIT |
| description | PIWI proteins and their guiding Piwi-interacting small RNAs (piRNAs) are crucial for fertility and transposon defense in the animal germline. In most species, the majority of piRNAs are produced from distinct large genomic loci, called piRNA clusters. It is assumed that germline-expressed piRNA clusters, particularly in Drosophila, act as principal regulators to control transposons dispersed across the genome. Here, using synteny analysis, we show that large clusters are evolutionarily labile, arise at loci characterized by recurrent chromosomal rearrangements, and are mostly species-specific across the Drosophila genus. By engineering chromosomal deletions in D. melanogaster, we demonstrate that the three largest germline clusters, which account for the accumulation of >40% of all transposon-targeting piRNAs in ovaries, are neither required for fertility nor for transposon regulation in trans. We provide further evidence that dispersed elements, rather than the regulatory action of large Drosophila germline clusters in trans, may be central for transposon defense. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:04:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/146884 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:04:15Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Elsevier BV |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1468842022-12-16T03:03:05Z Large Drosophila germline piRNA clusters are evolutionarily labile and dispensable for transposon regulation Gebert, Daniel Neubert, Lena K Lloyd, Catrin Gui, Jinghua Lehmann, Ruth Teixeira, Felipe Karam Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology PIWI proteins and their guiding Piwi-interacting small RNAs (piRNAs) are crucial for fertility and transposon defense in the animal germline. In most species, the majority of piRNAs are produced from distinct large genomic loci, called piRNA clusters. It is assumed that germline-expressed piRNA clusters, particularly in Drosophila, act as principal regulators to control transposons dispersed across the genome. Here, using synteny analysis, we show that large clusters are evolutionarily labile, arise at loci characterized by recurrent chromosomal rearrangements, and are mostly species-specific across the Drosophila genus. By engineering chromosomal deletions in D. melanogaster, we demonstrate that the three largest germline clusters, which account for the accumulation of >40% of all transposon-targeting piRNAs in ovaries, are neither required for fertility nor for transposon regulation in trans. We provide further evidence that dispersed elements, rather than the regulatory action of large Drosophila germline clusters in trans, may be central for transposon defense. 2022-12-15T17:19:33Z 2022-12-15T17:19:33Z 2021 2022-12-15T16:59:53Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/146884 Gebert, Daniel, Neubert, Lena K, Lloyd, Catrin, Gui, Jinghua, Lehmann, Ruth et al. 2021. "Large Drosophila germline piRNA clusters are evolutionarily labile and dispensable for transposon regulation." Molecular Cell, 81 (19). en 10.1016/J.MOLCEL.2021.07.011 Molecular Cell Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Elsevier BV Elsevier |
| spellingShingle | Gebert, Daniel Neubert, Lena K Lloyd, Catrin Gui, Jinghua Lehmann, Ruth Teixeira, Felipe Karam Large Drosophila germline piRNA clusters are evolutionarily labile and dispensable for transposon regulation |
| title | Large Drosophila germline piRNA clusters are evolutionarily labile and dispensable for transposon regulation |
| title_full | Large Drosophila germline piRNA clusters are evolutionarily labile and dispensable for transposon regulation |
| title_fullStr | Large Drosophila germline piRNA clusters are evolutionarily labile and dispensable for transposon regulation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Large Drosophila germline piRNA clusters are evolutionarily labile and dispensable for transposon regulation |
| title_short | Large Drosophila germline piRNA clusters are evolutionarily labile and dispensable for transposon regulation |
| title_sort | large drosophila germline pirna clusters are evolutionarily labile and dispensable for transposon regulation |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/146884 |
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