Plays a central role during gametogenesis by repressing transposable elements and preventing their mobilization, which is essential for the germline integrity. Acts via the piRNA metabolic process, which mediates the repression of transposable elements during meiosis by forming complexes composed of piRNAs and Piwi proteins and govern the methylation and subsequent repression of transposons. Directly binds methylated piRNAs, a class of 24 to 3 nucleotide RNAs that are generated by a Dicer-independent mechanism and are primarily derived from transposons and other repeated sequence elements. Besides their function in transposable elements repression, piRNAs are probably involved in other processes during meiosis such as translation regulation (By similarity).
