Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Tang W
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4785802 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Tang Wen W Tu Shikui S Lee Heng-Chi HC Weng Zhiping Z Mello Craig C CC
Cell 20160201 5
Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) engage Piwi proteins to suppress transposons and are essential for fertility in diverse organisms. An interesting feature of piRNAs is that, while piRNA lengths are stereotypical within a species, they can differ widely between species. For example, piRNAs are mainly 29 and 30 nucleotides in humans, 24 to 30 nucleotides in D. melanogaster, and uniformly 21 nucleotides in C. elegans. However, how piRNA length is determined and whether length impacts function remains ...[more]