Basic HTML Version
Full Abstracts – RNA BIOLOGY
155
97
Zfrp8 and piRNA pathway components in Drosophila hematopoiesis.
Svetlana Minakhina, Ruth Steward. Waksman Inst, Rutgers Univ, Piscataway, NJ.
Zfrp8/PDCD2 is a conserved factor with an essential function in several types of stem cells. In Drosophila,
Zfrp8
mutants were identified by severe
abnormalities of the hematopoietic organ, the lymph gland, where it is required for HSC maintenance. We have also established that
Zfrp8
is essential in
somatic and germ line stem cells in the ovary. Despite the conserved structure of Zfrp8/PDCD2 across eukaryotes, the molecular function of the protein is
still unknown. We found that
Zfrp8
genetically interacts with the Argounaute family member,
piwi
. To test if
piwi
and piRNA pathway may regulate
hematopoiesis we determined the mutant and knock-down phenotypes of several pathway components, including
piwi, AGO3, aub, zuc and spn-E
. Lack of
each factor causes distinct abnormalities in hemocyte differentiation suggesting that the piRNA pathway is essential not only in germ cell differentiation, but
also in hematopoiesis.