Table 2.
Representative Vasa/DDX4-interacting partners and their interacting domains
| Species | Protein | Interacting domains | KO phenotype of the interactor | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drosophila | Oskar | Oskar(eLOTUS) vs Vasa(CTD) | No pole plasm, failure of embryonic patterning | [43, 44, 97] |
| Drosophila | eIF5B | eIF5B vs Vasa (C-terminal 595–621) | Vas-eIF5B interaction is required for grk translation and oogenesis | [98] |
| Drosophila | Tapas (Tdrd7 ortholog) | Tapas vs Vasa | Reduced piRNAs, increased TEs, defective piRNA signaling | [99] |
| Drosophila | mei-P26* (mRNA) | 3ʹUTR (U-rich) of mei-P26 mRNA vs Vasa | Defective germline stem cell differentiation in both sexes | [82, 100] |
| Mouse | RanBPM/Ranbp9 | RanBPM(IUS-SPRY) vs Ddx4(N-terminus) | Abolished germline formation in both sexes. Impaired alternative splicing and gene expression. No transposon derepression | [32, 84, 91] |
| Mouse | Mili | Copurify with Ddx4, likely via N-terminus(Ddx4) | Meiotic arrest at zygotene; TEs activation | [50, 51, 68] |
| Mouse | Miwi | Copurify with Ddx4, likely via N-terminus(Ddx4) | Spermiogenic arrest in round spermatids (step 4) | [51, 68, 74] |
| Mouse | Tdrd1 | Copurify with Ddx4, independent of N-terminal arginine methylation | Meiotic arrest at zygotene; derepression of L1 transposons | [64, 101] |
| Mouse | Tdrd6 | Copurify with Ddx4, independent of C-terminus | Spermiogenic arrest in round spermatids. Dispersed CB architecture with mislocalized CB components (Ddx4,Miwi,Mael) | [64, 70] |
| Mouse | Mael | Costa reported the co-purification with Ddx4, but Julio et al. reported no interaction | Zygotene arrest and LINE1 derepression | [57, 60, 73] |
| Mouse | Tdrd5 | LOTUS domain | Zygotene arrest (severe) and spermiogenic arrest (mild); Reduced pachytene piRNA biogenesis | [45] |
| Mouse | Tdrd7 | LOTUS domain | Spermiogenic arrest and age-related cataract; LINE1 derepression | [69] |
For a full list of Vasa interactome, readers are encouraged to refer to the FlyBase [96]
*Note: mei-P26 is an mRNA transcript, but not its translated protein