Traffic Jam activates the Flamenco piRNA cluster locus and the Piwi pathway to ensure transposon silencing and Drosophila fertility

Flamenco (Flam) is a prominent Piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA) locus expressed in Drosophila ovarian follicle cells that silences gypsy/mdg4 transposons to ensure female fertility. Promoter-bashing reporter assays in ovarian somatic sheet (OSS) cells uncover compact enhancer sequences within Flam. We confirm the enhancer sequence relevance in vivo with Drosophila Flam deletion mutants that compromise Flam piRNA levels and female fertility. Proteomic analysis of proteins associated with Flam enhancer sequences discover the transcription factor Traffic Jam (TJ). Tj knockdown in OSS cells causes a decrease in Flam transcripts, Flam piRNAs, and multiple Piwi pathway genes. TJ chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) analysis confirms TJ binding at enhancer sequences deleted in our distinct Flam mutants. TJ also binds multiple Piwi pathway gene enhancers and long terminal repeats of transposons that decrease in expression after Tj knockdown. TJ plays an integral role in the ongoing arms race between selfish transposons and their suppression by the host Piwi pathway and Flam piRNA locus.