Uniting Germline and Stem Cells: The Function of Piwi Proteins and the piRNA Pathway in Diverse Organisms

The topipotency of the germline is the full manifestation of the pluri- and multipotency of embryonic and adult stem cells, thus the germline and stem cells must share common mechanisms that guarantee their multipotentials in development. One of the few such known shared mechanisms is represented by...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annual review of genetics 2011-01, Vol.45 (1), p.447-469
Main Authors: Juliano, Celina, Wang, Jianquan, Lin, Haifan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Argonaute
Argonaute Proteins - genetics
Argonaute Proteins - metabolism
DNA Transposable Elements
Drosophila - cytology
Drosophila - genetics
Drosophila - metabolism
Drosophila - physiology
Epigenesis, Genetic
epigenetic regulation
Epigenetics
Evolution, Molecular
Gene expression
Germ Cells - cytology
Germ Cells - metabolism
Germ Cells - physiology
Humans
Phylogeny
piRNA
Piwi
posttranscriptional regulation
Protein Biosynthesis
Protein Interaction Domains and Motifs
Proteins
Repressor Proteins - genetics
Repressor Proteins - metabolism
Reproduction
RNA Processing, Post-Transcriptional
RNA, Messenger - genetics
RNA, Messenger - metabolism
RNA, Small Interfering - genetics
RNA, Small Interfering - metabolism
Signal transduction
Stem cells
Stem Cells - cytology
Stem Cells - metabolism
Stem Cells - physiology
transposon
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Summary:The topipotency of the germline is the full manifestation of the pluri- and multipotency of embryonic and adult stem cells, thus the germline and stem cells must share common mechanisms that guarantee their multipotentials in development. One of the few such known shared mechanisms is represented by Piwi proteins, which constitute one of the two subfamilies of the Argonaute protein family. Piwi proteins bind to Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) that are generally 26 to 31 nucleotides in length. Both Piwi proteins and piRNAs are most abundantly expressed in the germline. Moreover, Piwi proteins are expressed broadly in certain types of somatic stem progenitor cells and other somatic cells across animal phylogeny. Recent studies indicate that the Piwi-piRNA pathway mediates epigenetic programming and posttranscriptional regulation, which may be responsible for its function in germline specification, gametogenesis, stem cell maintenance, transposon silencing, and genome integrity in diverse organisms.
ISSN:0066-4197
1545-2948
DOI:10.1146/annurev-genet-110410-132541