Piwi and Potency: PIWI Proteins in Animal Stem Cells and Regeneration | Zendy

Josien C. van Wolfswinkel | Zendy

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Piwi and Potency: PIWI Proteins in Animal Stem Cells and Regeneration

Author(s) -

Josien C. van Wolfswinkel

Publication year - 2014

Publication title -

integrative and comparative biology

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 1.328

H-Index - 123

eISSN - 1557-7023

pISSN - 1540-7063

DOI - 10.1093/icb/icu084

Subject(s) - piwi interacting rna , germline , biology , somatic cell , stem cell , gene silencing , regeneration (biology) , rasirna , genetics , transposable element , adult stem cell , microbiology and biotechnology , cellular differentiation , gene , genome

PIWI proteins are well known for their roles in the animal germline. They are essential for germline development and maintenance, and together with their binding partners, the piRNAs, they mediate transposon silencing. More recently, PIWI proteins have also been identified in somatic stem cells in diverse animals. The expression of PIWI proteins in these cells could be related to the ability of such cells to contribute to the germline. However, evaluation of stem cell systems across many different animal phyla suggests that PIWI proteins have an ancestral role in somatic stem cells, irrespective of their contribution to the germ cell lineage. Moreover, the data currently available reveal a possible correlation between the differentiation potential of a cell and its PIWI levels.

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