title: Small RNA-mediated quiescence of transposable elements in animals.
abstract: Transposable elements (TEs) are major components of the intergenic regions of the genome. However, TE transposition has the potential to threaten the reproductive fitness of the organism; therefore, organisms have evolved specialized molecular systems to sense and repress the expression of TEs to stop them from jumping to other genomic loci. Emerging evidence suggests that Argonaute proteins play a critical role in this process, in collaboration with two types of cellular small RNAs: PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) of the germline and endogenous small interfering RNAs (endo-siRNAs) of the soma, both of which are transcribed from TEs themselves.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan. saito@z6.keio.jp
authors.forename: Kuniaki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Mikiko C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Siomi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D039642:Eukaryotic Initiation Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D020868:Gene Silencing; D016678:Genome; D010802:Phylogeny; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D034743:RNA-Induced Silencing Complex / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D039642:Eukaryotic Initiation Factors; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D034743:RNA-Induced Silencing Complex