piRNAs guide PIWI proteins to silence transposons in animal germ cells. In Drosophila, the heterochromatic piRNA clusters transcribe piRNA precursors to be transported into nuage, a perinuclear structure for piRNA production and transposon silencing. At nuage, reciprocal cycles of piRNA-directed RNA cleavage—catalyzed by the PIWI proteins Aubergine (Aub) and Argonaute3 (Ago3) in Drosophila—destroy the sense transposon mRNA and expand the population of antisense piRNAs in response to transposon expression, a process called the Ping-Pong cycle. Heterotypic Ping-Pong between Aub and Ago3 ensures that antisense piRNAs predominate.
My thesis research mainly focuses on two fundamental questions about the piRNA production: How does the germ cell differentiate piRNA precursor from mRNAs for piRNA biogenesis? And what is the mechanism to impose Aub Ping-Pong with Ago3? For the first question, we show that the HP1 homolog protein Rhino marks the piRNA cluster regions in the genome for piRNA biogenesis. Rhino seems to anchor a nuclear complex that suppresses cluster transcript splicing, which may differentiate piRNA precursors from mature mRNAs. Moreover, LacI::Rhino fusion protein binding suppresses splicing of a reporter transgene and is sufficient to trigger de novo piRNA production from a trans combination of sense and antisense transgenes. For the second question, we show that Qin, a new piRNA pathway factor contains both E3 ligase and Tudor domains, colocalizes with Aub and Ago3 in nuage, enforces heterotypic Ping- Pong between Aub and Ago3. Loss of qinleads to less Ago3 binding to Aub, futile Aub:Aub homotypic Ping-Pong prevails, antisense piRNAs decrease, many families of mobile genetic elements are reactivated, DNA damage accumulates in the germ cells and flies are sterile.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:umassmed.edu/oai:escholarship.umassmed.edu:gsbs_diss-1691 |
| Date | 06 November 2013 |
| Creators | Zhang, Zhao |
| Publisher | eScholarship@UMassChan |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts Medical School |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Dissertations and Theses |
| Rights | Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved. |
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