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RNA silencing

Genomic defence with a slice of pi

Nature volume 446, pages 864–865 (2007)Cite this article

In fruit flies, a few very large genes generate the small RNAs that silence parasitic DNA elements. These RNAs might also participate in an amplification circuit that increases their potency.

Nearly half of the human genome and a third of the fruit fly's consists of selfish elements called transposons, 'jumping genes' that insert themselves into new locations, mutating other genes and damaging chromosomes. These molecular parasites include simple nucleotide repeats and virus-like elements that have colonized genomes throughout evolution. In response, animals have evolved complex mechanisms to silence transposons. The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster silences its transposons by a mechanism that uses small RNA 'guides'. Reporting in Cell1 and Science2, two research groups propose an unanticipated explanation for the production and amplification of these small, silencing RNAs.

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Figure 1: piRNA-mediated silencing of transposons.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Phillip D. Zamore is in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, USA. phillip.zamore@umassmed.edu,

    Phillip D. Zamore

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  1. Phillip D. Zamore
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Zamore, P. Genomic defence with a slice of pi. Nature 446, 864–865 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/446864a

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