PRG-1 and 21U-RNAs Interact to Form the PiRNA Complex Required for Fertility in C. Elegans

Overview

Journal Mol Cell

Publisher Cell Press

Specialty Cell Biology

Date 2008 Jun 24

PMID 18571452

Citations 341

Authors

Pedro J Batista

J Graham Ruby

Julie M Claycomb

Rosaria Chiang

Noah Fahlgren

Kristin D Kasschau

Daniel A Chaves

Weifeng Gu

Jessica J Vasale

Shenghua Duan

Darryl Conte Jr

Shujun Luo

Gary P Schroth

James C Carrington

David P Bartel

Craig C Mello

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

In metazoans, Piwi-related Argonaute proteins have been linked to germline maintenance, and to a class of germline-enriched small RNAs termed piRNAs. Here we show that an abundant class of 21 nucleotide small RNAs (21U-RNAs) are expressed in the C. elegans germline, interact with the C. elegans Piwi family member PRG-1, and depend on PRG-1 activity for their accumulation. The PRG-1 protein is expressed throughout development and localizes to nuage-like structures called P granules. Although 21U-RNA loci share a conserved upstream sequence motif, the mature 21U-RNAs are not conserved and, with few exceptions, fail to exhibit complementarity or evidence for direct regulation of other expressed sequences. Our findings demonstrate that 21U-RNAs are the piRNAs of C. elegans and link this class of small RNAs and their associated Piwi Argonaute to the maintenance of temperature-dependent fertility.

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