Activated Transposons in Egg Cells Can Cause Sterility (IMAGE)

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Activated Transposons in Egg Cells Can Cause Sterility

Caption

The piwi-RNA pathway is vital to genome integrity and the wellbeing of offspring. This image, from prior research in the Hannon Lab, shows a developing fruit fly egg chamber in which several blue-colored 'nurse cells' that support the egg are prominent. The bright green area in the upper right portion of the egg is a fluorescent tag signaling the presence of a type of transposon, a harbinger of sterility. The fly that develops from this egg will be sterile. In their latest study, Hannon and colleagues discovered the link between the piwi-RNA pathway, which very specifically finds transposons as RNA copies emerge, and the more general repressive machinery of the cell. The link proved to be a guide protein they named Panoramix, after a the comic book character who endows others with great powers.

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Hannon Lab, CSHL

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