Cloning of the Quail PIWI Gene and Characterization of PIWI Binding to Small RNAs

The PIWI protein regulates gene expression at the epigenetic and post-transcriptional level with a variety of endogenous small non-coding RNAs. In poultry, the biological function of the PIWI protein and PIWI binding to small RNAs had not been determined. The present study cloned and analyzed the sequences of the PIWIL1 protein. We also characterized PIWIL1 binding to small RNAs from adult quail testis, where the PIWIL1 protein is specifically expressed. Small RNAs showed a strong peak at 24–27 nt in the testicular RNA library, mapped primarily to repeat sequences and were similar to rasiRNAs. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) were abundant in the ovarian RNA library at a peak of 22 nt.