PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) support the germline by suppressing retrotransposons. Studies of the pathway in mice have strongly shaped the view that mammalian piRNAs are essential for male but not for female fertility. Here, we report that the role of the piRNA pathway substantially differs in golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus), the piRNA pathway setup of which more closely resembles that of other mammals, including humans. The loss of the Mov10l1 RNA helicase-an essential piRNA biogenesis factor-leads to striking phenotypes in both sexes. In contrast to mice, female Mov10l1-/- hamsters are sterile because their oocytes do not sustain zygotic development. Furthermore, Mov10l1-/- male hamsters have impaired establishment of spermatogonia accompanied by transcriptome dysregulation and an expression surge of a young retrotransposon subfamily. Our results show that the mammalian piRNA pathway has essential roles in both sexes and its adaptive nature allows it to manage emerging genomic threats and acquire new critical roles in the germline.

Bioinformatics Group Division of Molecular Biology Department of Biology Faculty of Science University of Zagreb Zagreb Croatia

Bioresource Engineering Division RIKEN BioResource Research Center Ibaraki Japan

Bioresource Engineering Laboratory RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research Saitama Japan

Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Czech Academy of Sciences Prague Czech Republic

Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences Prague Czech Republic

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Nat Cell Biol. 2021 Sep;23(9):936-938. doi: 10.1038/s41556-021-00749-z. PubMed

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