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Selfish elements make a mark

机译:自私的元素令人印象深刻

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摘要

Transposons qualify as 'selfish' DNA elements, adding new copies of themselves into our genomes without regard for the consequences. This wilful habit may, however, help in normal gene regulation. People differ in their genetic make-up, not only through changes in single DNA base pairs but also by the insertion of whole blocks of DNA. Human cells contain one type of active mobile element--the L1 retrotransposon--that is responsible for these insertions. Transposons are defined as DNA sequences that can form extra copies of themselves at new locations in anorganism's genome; today, L1 and related retrotransposons account for a staggering 17% of the human genome sequence. Mercifully, however, L1 elements 'transpose' only infrequently, minimizing damage to our chromosomes. The forces that keep L1 at bay havelong been a mystery, but two papers by Boeke and colleagues in this issue, together with an earlier study, unveil a major control mechanism. In the first paper, the authors present this discovery and discuss its implications for understanding genomic evolution. Their second paper describes how they capitalized on these findings to make a modified L1 element that is more than 200 times as active as normal.
机译:转座子被认为是“自私”的DNA元素,可将自身的新副本添加到我们的基因组中,而无需考虑后果。但是,这种随意的习惯可能有助于正常的基因调节。人们的遗传组成各不相同,不仅因为单个DNA碱基对的变化,而且由于整个DNA片段的插入。人体细胞包含一种活动的移动元件-L1反转录转座子-负责这些插入。转座子被定义为可以在有机体基因组中新的位置形成自身额外拷贝的DNA序列。如今,L1和相关的逆转座子占人类基因组序列的惊人比例达到了17%。幸运的是,L1元素很少发生“转座”,从而最大程度地减少了对我们染色体的损害。长期以来,使L1陷入困境的力量一直是个谜,但Boeke及其同事在此问题上发表的两篇论文以及一项较早的研究揭示了一种主要的控制机制。在第一篇论文中,作者提出了这一发现,并讨论了其对理解基因组进化的意义。他们的第二篇论文描述了他们如何利用这些发现制作出修饰的L1元素,其活性是正常水平的200倍以上。

著录项

  • 来源
    《Nature》 |2004年第6989期|p.253-255|共3页
  • 作者

    Frederic Bushman;

  • 作者单位
  • 收录信息 美国《科学引文索引》(SCI);美国《工程索引》(EI);美国《生物学医学文摘》(MEDLINE);美国《化学文摘》(CA);
  • 原文格式 PDF
  • 正文语种 eng
  • 中图分类 自然科学总论;
  • 关键词

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