Volume 27, No 11, Nov 2017

ISSN: 1001-0602 
EISSN: 1748-7838 2018 
impact factor 17.848* 
(Clarivate Analytics, 2019)

Volume 27 Issue 11, November 2017: 1392-1396

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

An essential role for PNLDC1 in piRNA 3′ end trimming and male fertility in mice

Yue Zhang^1,*, Rui Guo^1,*, Yiqiang Cui^1,*, Zhiping Zhu^1,2,*, Yingwen Zhang¹, Hao Wu¹, Bo Zheng¹, Qiuling Yue¹, Shun Bai¹, Wentao Zeng¹, Xuejiang Guo¹, Zuomin Zhou¹, Bin Shen¹, Ke Zheng¹, Mingxi Liu¹, Lan Ye¹ and Jiahao Sha¹

¹State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210029, China;
²The People's Hospital of Gaochun, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China Correspondence: Jiahao Sha, E-mail: shajh@njmu.edu.cn; Lan Ye, E-mail: lanye@njmu.edu.cn; Mingxi Liu, E-mail:(mingxi.liu@njmu.edu.cn)

PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are germ cell-specific small non-coding RNAs that are essential for silencing transposable elements. Substantial efforts in the past decade have led to an understanding of how piRNAs are made. Primary piRNA biogenesis is initiated with transcription of piRNA precursors, followed by cleavage into piRNA intermediates, and finally, maturation by 3′ end trimming and 2′-O-methylation. Secondary piRNA biogenesis occurs through an amplification loop (ping pong pathway); the piRNA pools generated through primary processing guide MILI protein to cleave the target RNA for piRNA generation in a feed-forward loop that accelerates production of the piRNAs. Papi/Tdrkh has been implicated in processing the 3′ ends of piRNAs1,2, however, Papi/Tdrkh lacks a recognized domain for nuclease activity. Recently, two independent studies identified the proteins that function as piRNA 3′ end trimmers in silkworms-the poly(A) specific ribonuclease PARN-1 and the PARN-like ortholog PNLDC13,4.

10.1038/cr.2017.125

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