Fig. 1

PsPIWI-RE is a distinct group of PIWI-RE with a unique N-domain that binds various guide strands. A Phylogenetic analysis of pAgo and PIWI-RE proteins. Phylogenetic tree generated by the Maximum Likelihood method of MEGA4. We computed 1000 replicates for bootstrap support. The pink area represents the PIWI-RE family and the red star indicates PsPIWI-RE. B Domain architecture analysis of PsPIWI-RE predicted by AlphaFold 2 reveals that PsPIWI-RE contains a unique N-domain, MID domain, and PIWI domain. C–F Binding affinities of four types of different guides to PsPIWI-RE measured by EMSA. 1 μM each of 21 nt 5′ phosphorylated (5′P) DNA, 5′hydroxyl (5′OH) DNA, 5′phosphorylated (5′P) RNA, and 5′hydroxyl (5′OH) RNA were incubated with varying concentrations of the PsPIWI-RE protein (1–3 μM) and are shown in figure parts C–F, respectively. Each guide strand was modified by 3′-6-FAM. “-”: reaction without PsPIWI-RE. The accession number of mentioned proteins and oligonucleotide sequences of the guide strands are shown in Additional file 1: Table S1