Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2007 Nov 2;318(5851):761-4.
doi: 10.1126/science.1146484.

The Piwi-piRNA pathway provides an adaptive defense in the transposon arms race

Alexei A Aravin  1 , Gregory J Hannon, Julius Brennecke
Affiliations
Free article
Review

The Piwi-piRNA pathway provides an adaptive defense in the transposon arms race

Alexei A Aravin et al. Science. .
Free article

Abstract

Increasingly complex networks of small RNAs act through RNA-interference (RNAi) pathways to regulate gene expression, to mediate antiviral responses, to organize chromosomal domains, and to restrain the spread of selfish genetic elements. Historically, RNAi has been defined as a response to double-stranded RNA. However, some small RNA species may not arise from double-stranded RNA precursors. Yet, like microRNAs and small interfering RNAs, such species guide Argonaute proteins to silencing targets through complementary base-pairing. Silencing can be achieved by corecruitment of accessory factors or through the activity of Argonaute itself, which often has endonucleolytic activity. As a specific and adaptive regulatory system, RNAi is used throughout eukarya, which indicates a long evolutionary history. A likely function of RNAi throughout that history is to protect the genome from both pathogenic and parasitic invaders.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources