c-Fos Repression by Piwi Regulates Drosophila Ovarian Germline Formation and Tissue Morphogenesis.
Drosophila melanogaster Piwi functions within the germline stem cells (GSCs) and the somatic niche to regulate GSC self-renewal and differentiation. How Piwi influences GSCs is largely unknown. We uncovered a genetic interaction between Piwi and c-Fos in the somatic niche that influences GSCs. c-Fos is a proto-oncogene that influences many cell and developmental processes. In wild-type ovarian cells, c-Fos is post-transcriptionally repressed by Piwi, which destabilized the c-Fos mRNA by promoting the processing of its 3' untranslated region (UTR) into Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs). The c-Fos 3' UTR was sufficient to trigger Piwi-dependent destabilization of a GFP reporter. Piwi represses c-Fos in the somatic niche to regulate GSC maintenance and differentiation and in the somatic follicle cells to affect somatic cell disorganization, tissue dysmorphogenesis, oocyte maturation arrest, and infertility.
Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, United States of America.
Jonathon D
JD
Klein
Department of Computational Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, United States of America.
Chunxu
C
Qu
Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, United States of America.
Xiaoyang
X
Yang
Department of Computational Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, United States of America.
Yiping
Y
Fan
Department of Computational Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, United States of America.
Chunlao
C
Tang
Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, United States of America.
Jamy C
JC
Peng
D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D000818:Animals; D060565:Argonaute Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D009866:Oogenesis; D009867:Oogonia / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D010053:Ovary / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D055153:Stem Cell Niche
D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D060565:Argonaute Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; C116498:piwi protein, Drosophila