Seawi—a sea urchin piwi/argonaute family member is a component of MT-RNP complexes

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Issue Date
2005-01-01Author
Rodriguez, Alexis J.
Seipel, Susan A.
Hamill, Danielle R.
Romancino, Danielle P.
Di Carlo, Marta
Suprenant, Kathy A.
Bonder, Edward M.
Publisher
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, publisher version
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The piwi/argonaute family of proteins is involved in key developmental processes such as stem cell maintenance and axis specification through molecular mechanisms that may involve RNA silencing. Here we report on the cloning and characterization of the sea urchin piwi/argonaute family member seawi. Seawi is a major component of microtubule-ribonucleoprotein (MT-RNP) complexes isolated from two different species of sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus and Paracentrotus lividus. Seawi co-isolates with purified ribosomes, cosediments with 80S ribosomes in sucrose density gradients, and binds microtubules. Seawi possesses the RNA binding motif common to piwi family members and binds P. lividus bep4 mRNA, a transcript that co-isolates with MT-RNP complexes and whose translation product has been shown to play a role in patterning the animal–vegetal axis. Indirect immunofluorescence studies localized seawi to the cortex of unfertilized eggs within granule-like particles, the mitotic spindle during cell division, and the small micromeres where its levels were enriched during the early cleavage stage. Lastly, we discuss how seawi, as a piwi/argonaute family member, may play a fundamentally important role in sea urchin animal–vegetal axis formation and stem cell maintenance.
Description
This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://rnajournal.cshlp.org/content/11/5/646.
ISSN
1355-8382Collections
Citation
Rodriguez, Alexis J. et al. (2005). "Seawi—a sea urchin piwi/argonaute family member is a component of MT-RNP complexes." RNA, 11(5):646-656. http://www.dx.doi.org/10.1261/rna.7198205.
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