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Comparative Analysis of the Structure of Three piRNA Clusters in the Drosophila melanogaster Genome

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Abstract

Here we attempt to reconstruct the sequence of events that led to the formation of three regulatory piRNA clusters, namely, 20A, 38C and flamenco in the Drosophila melanogaster genome. Both the 38C and flamenco clusters include inverted sequences, which potentially form double-stranded RNA hairpins. We present evidence in favor of the well-known hypothesis of piRNA clusters as “transposon traps”. According to this model, the presence of the only copy of the transposon in the genome indicates that its expression is suppressed by an RNA-interference mechanism immediately after the mobile element enters the piRNA cluster. We also discuss high the structural variability of piRNAs in Drosophila clusters and cases of horizontal transmobile elements between related species.

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Funding

This work was supported by the grant of the Program for Basic Research of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences “Postgenomic Technologies and Promising Solutions in Biomedicine” on the topic: “Assembly of RNP particles of noncoding transcripts and delayed translation transcripts.”

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  1. Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991, Moscow, Russia

    A. P. Kotnova & Yu. V. Ilyin

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  1. A. P. Kotnova
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Correspondence to A. P. Kotnova.

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Kotnova, A.P., Ilyin, Y.V. Comparative Analysis of the Structure of Three piRNA Clusters in the Drosophila melanogaster Genome. Mol Biol 54, 374–381 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0026893320030085

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0026893320030085

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