Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), long thought to be restricted to germline, have recently been discovered in neurons of Aplysia, with a role in the epigenetic regulation of gene expression underlying long-term memory. We here ask whether piwi/piRNAs are also expressed and have functional roles in the mammalian brain. Large-scale RNA sequencing and subsequent analysis of protein expression revealed the presence in brain of several piRNA biogenesis factors including a mouse piwi (Mili), as well as small RNAs, albeit at low levels, resembling conserved piRNAs in mouse testes [primarily LINE1 (long interspersed nuclear element1) retrotransposon-derived]. Despite the seeming low expression of these putative piRNAs, single-base pair CpG methylation analyses across the genome of Mili/piRNA-deficient (Mili −/− ) mice demonstrate that brain genomic DNA is preferentially hypomethylated within intergenic areas and LINE1 promoter areas of the genome. Furthermore, Mili mutant mice exhibit behavioral deficits such as hyperactivity and reduced anxiety. These results suggest that putative piRNAs exist in mammalian brain, and similar to the role of piRNAs in testes, they may be involved in the silencing of retrotransposons, which in brain have critical roles in contributing to genomic heterogeneity underlying adaptation, stress response, and brain pathology. We also describe the presence of another class of small RNAs in the brain, with features of endogenous siRNAs, which may have taken over the role of invertebrate piRNAs in their capacity to target both transposons, as well as protein-coding genes. Thus, RNA interference through gene and retrotransposon silencing previously encountered in Aplysia may also have potential roles in the mammalian brain.piwi-interacting RNA | transposon | DNA methylation | behavior | endogenous siRNA P iwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are 26-to 32-nt small noncoding RNAs that associate with the piwi clade of the Argonaute family of proteins and whose primary functions in mammals are associated with the silencing of transposons in the germline through de novo DNA methylation (1-4). Transposons constitute 44% of the human genome and could when active contribute to genetic heterogeneity, to alteration of behavior during adaptation, and to responses to stress. Somatic retrotransposition and its associated insertional mutagenesis have particularly important implications for brain disorders and are often associated with schizophrenia, Rett syndrome, and neurodegenerative disorders (5-7). The LINE1 (long interspersed nuclear element1) family of retrotransposons in particular is active in human and mouse hippocampus (8, 9).Although it has long been thought that piRNA expression and function are restricted to the germline, our laboratory and others have previously found that the piRNA pathway is functional in invertebrate neurons as well (10, 11). Aplysia neurons, in particular, have a strikingly abundant expression of piRNAs (contributing to at least 5% of the total noncoding RNA population); they in turn hav...