RDC regulation of piRNA precursors and host genes. (A) Schematic of known Cuff, Rhi, and Del functions in piRNA precursor transcription. Rhi and Del, together with Moon and Trf2 act to recruit bidirectional transcription of piRNA clusters (Andersen et al. 2017). Rhino, Del, and Cuff further specify piRNA precursors through suppressing splicing, polyadenylation, and termination (Mohn et al. 2014; Zhang et al. 2014; Chen et al. 2016). CtBP represses canonical, promoter-dependent transcription at piRNA clusters (Parhad et al. 2020). (B) Genes that are upregulated, downregulated, and unchanged by cuff, del, and rhi transgenic rescues as compared with the corresponding mutant background are indicated. Results of Fisher’s exact test (cuff, upregulated) or □² test-of-independence (all others, df = 1) indicating differences in the proportion of genes positively (orange, top) or negatively (purple, bottom) regulated between transgenic rescues are also indicated. N.S. denotes P value > 0.05, * denotes P value < 0.05, and *** denotes P value < 0.001.