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Transposon silencing in the Drosophila female germline ensures genome stability in progeny embryos

Zeljko Durdevic, Ramesh S. Pillai, View ORCID ProfileAnne Ephrussi
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/363028
Zeljko Durdevic
1Developmental Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstrasse 1, Heidelberg, D-69117, Germany
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Ramesh S. Pillai
2Department of Molecular Biology, University of Geneva, 30, quai Ernest-Ansermet, Geneva 4, CH-1211, Switzerland
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Anne Ephrussi
1Developmental Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstrasse 1, Heidelberg, D-69117, Germany
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  • ORCID record for Anne Ephrussi
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Abstract

The piRNA pathway functions in transposon control in the germ line of metazoans. The conserved RNA helicase Vasa is an essential piRNA pathway component, but has additional important developmental functions. Here we address the importance of Vasa-dependent transposon control in the Drosophila female germline and early embryos. We find that transient loss of vasa expression during early oogenesis leads to transposon up-regulation in supporting nurse cells of the fly egg-chamber. We show that elevated transposon levels have dramatic consequences, as de-repressed transposons accumulate in the oocyte where they cause DNA damage. We find that suppression of Chk2-mediated DNA damage signaling in vasa mutant females restores oogenesis and egg production. Damaged DNA and up-regulated transposons are transmitted from the mother to the embryos, which sustain severe nuclear defects and arrest development. Our findings reveal that the Vasa-dependent protection against selfish genetic elements in the nuage of nurse cell is essential to prevent DNA damage-induced arrest of embryonic development.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
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Posted July 05, 2018.
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Transposon silencing in the Drosophila female germline ensures genome stability in progeny embryos
Zeljko Durdevic, Ramesh S. Pillai, Anne Ephrussi
bioRxiv 363028; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/363028
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Transposon silencing in the Drosophila female germline ensures genome stability in progeny embryos
Zeljko Durdevic, Ramesh S. Pillai, Anne Ephrussi
bioRxiv 363028; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/363028

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