Piwi (or PIWI) genes were identified as regulatoryproteins responsible for stem cell and germ celldifferentiation.[4] Piwi is an abbreviation of P-elementInduced WImpy testis[a] in Drosophila.[6] Piwi proteins are highly conservedRNA-binding proteins and are present in both plants and animals.[7] Piwi proteins belong to the Argonaute/Piwi family and have been classified as nuclear proteins. Studies on Drosophila have also indicated that Piwi proteins have no slicer activity conferred by the presence of the Piwi domain.[8] In addition, Piwi associates with heterochromatin protein 1, an epigenetic modifier, and piRNA-complementary sequences. These are indications of the role Piwi plays in epigenetic regulation. Piwi proteins are also thought to control the biogenesis of piRNA as many Piwi-like proteins contain slicer activity which would allow Piwi proteins to process precursor piRNA into mature piRNA.
^Rivas FV, Tolia NH, Song JJ, et al. (April 2005). "Purified Argonaute2 and an siRNA form recombinant human RISC". Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 12 (4): 340–9. doi:10.1038/nsmb918. PMID15800637. S2CID2021813.
^Cox DN, Chao A, Lin H (2000). "piwi encodes a nucleoplasmic factor whose activity modulates the number and division rate of germline stem cells". Development. 127 (3): 503–14. doi:10.1242/dev.127.3.503. PMID10631171.
^Lin H, Spradling AC (1997). "A novel group of pumilio mutations affects the asymmetric division of germline stem cells in the Drosophila ovary". Development. 124 (12): 2463–2476. doi:10.1242/dev.124.12.2463. PMID9199372.
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