Summary
Project title: Molecular mechanism of piRNA biogenesis Project summary Non-coding RNAs have diverse functions in eukaryotic cells. Use of these non-coding RNAs in therapeutic approaches is a promising but rather unexplored direction in biomedical research. We discovered a new class of small non-coding RNAs, piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), that together with their protein partners, Piwi proteins, recognize and silence endogenous genomic parasites called transposable elements and are involved in regulation of host gene expression. The silencing of transposons is critical in germline cells and t
