ArticleNature communications2023
Unistrand piRNA clusters are an evolutionarily conserved mechanism to suppress endogenous retroviruses across the Drosophila genus.
Article in Nature communications, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers.
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- Lifestyles ofProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Article
- Conserved host genes act as anchors for fast-evolving piRNA clusters via promoter hijacking.Research square · 2026Article
- Host-transposable element coexistence: a matter of resistance, tolerance and trade-off.The EMBO journal · 2026Review
- A reference genome for cultured Drosophila ovarian somatic cells enables studies of transposon and piRNA biology.Genome biology · 2026Article
- Comparative Transcriptomics Reveals an Extracellular Worm Argonaute as an Ancestral Regulator of LTR Retrotransposons.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Co-evolving infectivity and expression patterns drive the diversification of endogenous retroviruses.The EMBO journal · 2026Article
- The making and breaking of insect endogenous retroviruses.The EMBO journal · 2026Article
- Complete transition from chromosomal to cytoplasmic sex determination during prolonged Wolbachia symbiosis.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Potential for gene silencing by piwi-interacting RNA in three lepidopterans.Frontiers in insect science · 2026Article
- The ongoing invasion of the endogenous retrovirusbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Implications of Endogenous Small Regulatory RNAs Survey in Mollusks on Gene Silencing Approaches.Marine biotechnology (New York, N.Y.) · 2025Article
- Binding of heterochromatin protein Rhino to a subset of piRNA clusters depends on a combination of two histone marks.Nature structural & molecular biology · 2025Article
- Insulator BEAF32 regulates expression of tissue-specific genes and piRNA source loci in Drosophila ovaries.Epigenetics & chromatin · 2025Article
- Evolution of piRNA-guided defense against transposable elements.Trends in genetics : TIG · 2025Review
- Traffic Jam activates the Flamenco piRNA cluster locus and the Piwi pathway to ensure transposon silencing and Drosophila fertility.Cell reports · 2025Article
- The transcription factor Traffic jam orchestrates the somatic piRNA pathway in Drosophila ovaries.Cell reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Regulatory roles of PIWI-interacting RNAs in cardiovascular disease.American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology · 2025Review
- Double trouble: two retrotransposons triggered a cascade of invasions in Drosophila species within the last 50 years.Nature communications · 2025Article
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6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA) pathway prevents endogenous genomic parasites, i.e. transposable elements, from damaging the genetic material of animal gonadal cells. Specific regions in the genome, called piRNA clusters, are thought to define each species' piRNA repertoire and therefore its capacity to recognize and silence specific transposon families. The unistrand cluster flamenco (flam) is essential in the somatic compartment of the Drosophila ovary to restrict Gypsy-family transposons from infecting the neighbouring germ cells. Disruption of flam results in transposon de-repression and sterility, yet it remains unknown whether this silencing mechanism is present more widely. Here, we systematically characterise 119 Drosophila species and identify five additional flam-like clusters separated by up to 45 million years of evolution. Small RNA-sequencing validated these as bona-fide unistrand piRNA clusters expressed in somatic cells of the ovary, where they selectively target transposons of the Gypsy family. Together, our study provides compelling evidence of a widely conserved transposon silencing mechanism that co-evolved with virus-like Gypsy-family transposons.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.