Introducing the mighty panoramix: Defender of genomes
Friday, October 16, 2015 - 11:00
in Biology & Nature
To protect future generations against genomic havoc, defects in innate defense systems usually result in sterility. In animals, the main defense against troublemaking transposons is the Piwi-interacting RNA pathway. A team has identified a protein the Piwi system uses to guide a cell's gene-silencing machinery to the right spots in the genome, allowing it to keep transposons in check. They call the protein Panoramix, after a comic book character who endows others with great power.