PUBLICATION

A role for Piwi and piRNAs in germ cell maintenance and transposon silencing in Zebrafish

Authors
Houwing, S., Kamminga, L.M., Berezikov, E., Cronembold, D., Girard, A., van den Elst, H., Filippov, D.V., Blaser, H., Raz, E., Moens, C.B., Plasterk, R.H., Hannon, G.J., Draper, B.W., and Ketting, R.F.
ID
ZDB-PUB-070424-3
Date
2007
Source
Cell   129(1): 69-82 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Blaser, Heiko, Cronembold, Daniela, Houwing, Saskia, Kamminga, Leonie, Ketting, René, Moens, Cecilia, Plasterk, Ronald H.A., Raz, Erez
Keywords
none
Datasets
GEO:GSE7131
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/chemistry
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/cytology
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/metabolism
  • Female
  • Genome
  • Germ Cells/chemistry
  • Germ Cells/cytology*
  • Germ Cells/metabolism
  • Male
  • Ovary/cytology
  • RNA Interference
  • RNA, Untranslated/genetics
  • RNA, Untranslated/metabolism*
  • RNA-Binding Proteins/metabolism
  • Retroelements
  • Testis/cytology
  • Zebrafish
  • Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism*
PubMed
17418787 Full text @ Cell
Abstract
Piwi proteins specify an animal-specific subclass of the Argonaute family that, in vertebrates, is specifically expressed in germ cells. We demonstrate that zebrafish Piwi (Ziwi) is expressed in both the male and the female gonad and is a component of a germline-specifying structure called nuage. Loss of Ziwi function results in a progressive loss of germ cells due to apoptosis during larval development. In animals that have reduced Ziwi function, germ cells are maintained but display abnormal levels of apoptosis in adults. In mammals, Piwi proteins associate with approximately 29-nucleotide-long, testis-specific RNA molecules called piRNAs. Here we show that zebrafish piRNAs are present in both ovary and testis. Many of these are derived from transposons, implicating a role for piRNAs in the silencing of repetitive elements in vertebrates. Furthermore, we show that piRNAs are Dicer independent and that their 3' end likely carries a 2'O-Methyl modification.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Show all Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping