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Updated: Oct 17, 2025

Global Identification of Co-Translational Interaction Networks by Selective Ribosome Profiling
Published on: October 7, 2021
Coupled protein synthesis and ribosome-guided piRNA processing on mRNAs
Yu H Sun1, Ruoqiao Huiyi Wang1, Khai Du1
1Center for RNA Biology: From Genome to Therapeutics, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, 14642, USA.
Abstract:
PIWI-interacting small RNAs (piRNAs) protect the germline genome and are essential for fertility. piRNAs originate from transposable element (TE) RNAs, long non-coding RNAs, or 3´ untranslated regions (3´UTRs) of protein-coding messenger genes, with the last being the least characterized of the three piRNA classes. Here, we demonstrate that the precursors of 3´UTR piRNAs are full-length mRNAs and that post-termination 80S ribosomes guide piRNA production on 3´UTRs in mice and chickens. At the pachytene stage, when other co-translational RNA surveillance pathways are sequestered, piRNA biogenesis degrades mRNAs right after pioneer rounds of translation and fine-tunes protein production from mRNAs. Although 3´UTR piRNA precursor mRNAs code for distinct proteins in mice and chickens, they all harbor embedded TEs and produce piRNAs that cleave TEs. Altogether, we discover a function of the piRNA pathway in fine-tuning protein production and reveal a conserved piRNA biogenesis mechanism that recognizes translating RNAs in amniotes.
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