Fig. 6
From: Roles of piRNAs in transposon and pseudogene regulation of germline mRNAs and lncRNAs
piRNAs mediate pseudogene regulation of cognate mRNAs. a Anti-sense transcripts of pseudogenes serve as precursors of piRNAs. These pseudogene-derived piRNAs form Piwi-piRNA complex that binds to complementary sequences in the cognate mRNAs to promote their degradation [68]. b In human breast cancer cell lines, the Piwi-piR-36712 complex degrades the RNA of pseudogene SEPW1P, which releases SEPW1P-RNA-bound miR-7 and miR-324 to bind to cognate SEPW mRNA, promoting its degradation and inhibiting its translation [105]. The reduction of SEPW protein weakens its repression towards p53 and p21, allowing p53 and p21 to release Slug suppression towards E cadherin expression, which blocks cancer progression