LINE-1-like retrotransposons contribute to RNA-based gene duplication in dicots

LINE-1-like retrotransposons contribute to RNA-based gene duplication in dicots

RNA-based duplicated genes or functional retrocopies (retrogenes) are known to drive phenotypic evolution. Retrogenes emerge via retroposition, which is mainly mediated by long interspersed nuclear element 1 (LINE-1 or L1) retrotransposons in mammals. By contrast, long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons appear to be the major player in plants, although an L1-like mechanism has also been hyp...

Gene Duplication and RNA Silencing in Soybean

LTR Retrotransposons Contribute to Genomic Gigantism in Plethodontid Salamanders

Among vertebrates, most of the largest genomes are found within the salamanders, a clade of amphibians that includes 613 species. Salamander genome sizes range from ~14 to ~120 Gb. Because genome size is correlated with nucleus and cell sizes, as well as other traits, morphological evolution in salamanders has been profoundly affected by genomic gigantism. However, the molecular mechanisms driv...

Silencing of LINE-1 retrotransposons contributes to variation in small noncoding RNA expression in human cancer cells

Noncoding RNAs are key players in the maintenance of genomic integrity, particularly in silencing the expression of repetitive elements, some of which are retrotransposable and capable of causing genomic instability. Recent computational studies suggest an association between L1 expression and the generation of small RNAs. However, whether L1 expression has a role in the activation of small RNA...

Expression of LINE-1 retrotransposons in human breast cancer.

BACKGROUND Several diseases have been linked to the insertion of human LINE-1 retrotransposons (L1Hs) into structural genes. Recently, the element has been shown to be expressed in a variety of adult and pediatric germ cell cancers, leading to speculation that L1Hs-induced insertion mutations may play a role in the etiology of some neoplasias. METHODS An L1Hs-encoded protein (p40) was assayed...