[PIWI protein as a nucleolus visitor in Drosophila melanogaster].

The evolutionarily conserved nuclear Piwi protein of Drosophila melanogaster is a representative of the Argonaute small RNA binding protein family. Guided by small piRNAs, Piwi functions in transposon silencing in somatic and germ cells of the gonad. We found that in ovarian somatic and germ cells, as well as in the established ovarian somatic cell line, Piwi is concentrated predominantly in the nucleolus--the main nuclear compartment, participating not only in rRNA synthesis, but also in various cell stress responses.

[The interplay of transposon silencing genes in the Drosophila melanogaster germline].

Complexes of Piwi proteins and Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) carry out the repression of transposable elements in animal gonads. The Piwi protein clade is represented in D. melanogaster by three members: Piwi, Aub and Ago3.