Title
Blanks, a nuclear siRNA/dsRNA-binding complex component, is required for Drosophila spermiogenesis
Date Issued
22 February 2011
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Preall J.B.
Golden D.E.
Powell D.W.
Cummins T.D.
Sontheimer E.J.
Northwestern University
Abstract
Small RNAs and a diverse array of protein partners control gene expression in eukaryotes through a variety of mechanisms. By combining siRNA affinity chromatography and mass spectrometry, we have identified the double-stranded RNA-binding domain protein Blanks to be an siRNA- and dsRNA-binding protein from Drosophila S2 cells. We find that Blanks is a nuclear factor that contributes to the efficiency of RNAi. Biochemical fractionation of a Blanks-containing complex shows that the Blanks complex is unlike previously described RNA-induced silencing complexes and associates with the DEAD-box helicase RM62, a protein previously implicated in RNA silencing. In flies, Blanks is highly expressed in testes tissues and is necessary for postmeiotic spermiogenesis, but loss of Blanks is not accompanied by detectable transposon derepression. Instead, genes related to innate immunity pathways are up-regulated in blanks mutant testes. These results reveal Blanks to be a unique component of a nuclear siRNA/dsRNA-binding complex that contributes to essential RNA silencing-related pathways in the male germ line.
Start page
3204
End page
3209
Volume
108
Issue
8
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Genética, Herencia Bioquímica, Biología molecular
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-79952755165
PubMed ID
Source
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
ISSN of the container
10916490
DOI of the container
10.1073/pnas.1009781108
Source funding
National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus