The crystal-Stellate interaction was initially revealed as an interaction system between heterochromatin and euchromatin, afterword it was identified as the first natural case of a piRNA-mediated regulation. piRNAs and the piRNA pathways, occurring in gonads, protect the genome from the potentially deleterious effects of the activation of the transposable elements (TE) maintaining the genome stability. The deregulation of the piRNA-pathway results in the formation of Stellate-made crystals in spermatocytes representing a simple way to identify genes involved in the piRNA pathway1. During the years, searching for crystals, we identified unsuspected components of the pathway, such as HSP902 and dFMR13. It is becoming increasingly clear that all the modifiers of the crystal-Stellate interaction are piRNA-related genes, the opposite is not true. We have started to look at the different behaviour of the piRNA genes in relation to the crystal-Stellate regulation to acquire more information about the molecular basis of this interaction. We are following two different strategies to reach this purpose: the first is a specific deep genomic analysis of the crystal and Stellate loci; the second is to study specific piRNA genes that do not affect the crystal-Stellate regulation.
The regulation of the crystal-Stellate interaction as a marker of different piRNA pathways in the gonads
Bozzetti M.;Puricella A.;Pimpinelli S.;Specchia V.
2017-01-01
Abstract
The crystal-Stellate interaction was initially revealed as an interaction system between heterochromatin and euchromatin, afterword it was identified as the first natural case of a piRNA-mediated regulation. piRNAs and the piRNA pathways, occurring in gonads, protect the genome from the potentially deleterious effects of the activation of the transposable elements (TE) maintaining the genome stability. The deregulation of the piRNA-pathway results in the formation of Stellate-made crystals in spermatocytes representing a simple way to identify genes involved in the piRNA pathway1. During the years, searching for crystals, we identified unsuspected components of the pathway, such as HSP902 and dFMR13. It is becoming increasingly clear that all the modifiers of the crystal-Stellate interaction are piRNA-related genes, the opposite is not true. We have started to look at the different behaviour of the piRNA genes in relation to the crystal-Stellate regulation to acquire more information about the molecular basis of this interaction. We are following two different strategies to reach this purpose: the first is a specific deep genomic analysis of the crystal and Stellate loci; the second is to study specific piRNA genes that do not affect the crystal-Stellate regulation.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
