title: Emerging from the clouds: Vasa helicase sheds light on piRNA amplification.
abstract: Reporting in a recent study in Cell, Xiol and colleagues (2014) identify the conserved DEAD box helicase Vasa as a platform for secondary Piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA) biogenesis in the insect nuage. This study represents a substantial breakthrough in understanding the mechanism and location of piRNA amplification by the "ping-pong" cycle.
authors: Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A8, Canada. Electronic address: julie.claycomb@utoronto.ca.
authors: Julie M
authors: JM
authors: Claycomb
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D012831:Bombyx / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D019476:Insect Proteins; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering