RNAi and overexpression of genes in ovarian somatic cells.

Emerging evidence indicates that PIWI proteins, in collaboration with PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), play a critical role in retrotransposon silencing in Drosophila gonadal somatic and germ-line cells. The recent establishment of female germ-line stem cells/ovarian somatic sheet and its derivative cell line, ovarian somatic cells (OSCs), allows researchers to study the molecular functions of several protein factors involved in the primary piRNA pathway in Drosophila. Although transgene expression is difficult to achieve in gonad-derived cell lines, transfection of both expression vectors and knockdown reagents is highly effective in OSCs. Here, I focus on techniques that knockdown or overexpress genes of interest in OSCs.