piRNAs BIOGENESIS AND ITS FUNCTIONS

^#Fax: +86379 64563979; e-mail: [email protected]

Animal Science and Technology College, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang City, Henan Province, 471003 P.R. China

Recevied October 4, 2013; in final form November 17, 2013

piRNAs (piwi-interacting RNA) are a novel class of non-coding small single-stranded RNAs with the length of 26–33 nt. The piRNAs play important biological role through the specific interaction with the piwi proteins of the Argonaute family. piRNA function in embryonic development, maintenance of germline DNA integrity, silencing of transposon transcription, suppression of translation, formation of heterochromatin, and epigenetic regulation of sex determination. This review summarizes recent research and progress on biogenesis and function of piRNA ineukaryotic species.

Keyword: piRNA, regulation, function, cancer

Биоорг. химия 2014, 40 (3): 320-326