RNAi is activated during Drosophila oocyte maturation in a manner dependent on aubergine and spindle-E
Abstract
Gene silencing by double-stranded RNA is a widespread phenomenon called RNAi, involving homology-dependent degradation of mRNAs. Here we show that RNAi is established in the Drosophila female germ line. mRNA transcripts are translationally quiescent at the arrested oocyte stage and are insensitive to RNAi. Upon oocyte maturation, transcripts that are translated become sensitive to degradation while untranslated transcripts remain resistant. Mutations inaubergine and spindleE, members of the PIWI/PAZ and DE-H helicase gene families, respectively, block RNAi activation during egg maturation and perturb translation control during oogenesis, supporting a connection between gene silencing and translation in the oocyte.
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Footnotes
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↵1 Present address: Department of Anatomy, University of California, San Francisco, CA, 94143USA.
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↵2 Corresponding author.
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E-MAIL r-carthew{at}northwestern.edu; FAX (847) 467-1380.
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Article and publication are at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.990802.
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- Received March 12, 2002.
- Accepted June 3, 2002.
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
