Gene Silencing Triggered by Non-LTR Retrotransposons in the Female Germline of Drosophila melanogaster

• DOI: 10.1093/genetics/164.2.521
• Publication Date: 2021-04-27T05:58:27Z
• Authors: Stéphanie Robin; Séverine Chambeyron; Alain Bucheton; Isabelle Busseau
• Keywords: Retrotransposon; Homology; Melanogaster; Endogenous retrovirus; Piwi-interacting RNA

Abstract Several studies have recently shown that the activity of some eukaryotic transposable elements is sensitive to presence homologous transgenes, suggesting involvement homology-dependent genesilencing mechanisms in their regulation. Here we provide data indicating two non-LTR retrotransposons Drosophila melanogaster are themselves natural triggers gene silencing. We show that, female germline D. melanogaster, fragments from R1 or I can mediate silencing chimeric transcription units into which they inserted. This probably mediated by sequence identity with endogenous copies because it does not occur a fragment divergent Bombyx mori, and, when used, occurs only females containing functional element. accompanied cosuppression unit, contrasts other Drosophila. These observations suggest and may self-regulate own copy number triggering