transposons

Transposons may be key players in how tumors develop and spread, but they also keep cancer at bay in some circumstances.

Sequences for the model organism and two of its kin reveal how these plants got their oversized genomes.

Mice with overactive LINE-1 retrotransposons in their brains exhibit movement difficulties, suggesting the genetic elements may play a role in ataxia in humans. 

Genetic studies have made it clear that eukaryotic horizontal gene transfer can and does happen. Exactly how, though, remains speculative.

Horizontally transferred genes play significant roles in eukaryotic genomes

DNA passed to and from all kinds of organisms, even across kingdoms, has helped shape the tree of life, to a large and undisputed degree in microbes and also unexpectedly in multicellular fungi, plants, and animals.

Jumping genes in bdelloid rotifers are tamped down by DNA methylation performed by an enzyme pilfered from bacteria roughly 60 million years ago, a study finds.

Long lambasted as junk DNA or genomic parasites, transposable elements turn out to be contributors to adaptation.

The movements of so-called jumping genes can generate the genetic diversity needed to drive evolutionary change in populations over time.  

This year revealed just how much scientists have learned about the disease, from how animals become naturally cancer-resistant to how tumor cells harness extracellular DNA to develop rapid drug resistance.

Activation of retrotransposons in the animals’ cancerous cells sets off an innate immune response that triggers cell death.

A new study suggests that DNA synthesized in the cell cytoplasm drives retinal cell death in an advanced form of age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness.

A transposable element that jumped into the TBXT gene, which is linked to tail morphology, appears to be to blame for our missing appendage.

As male Drosophila grow old, selfish genetic elements that are abundant on the Y chromosome become more active, which appears to reduce longevity.

A tool for identifying jumping gene insertions in DNA sequencing data turns up possible explanations for four patients’ rare developmental disorders.

Researchers repurpose the CRISPR machinery to turn whole classes of transposable elements on or off.

The study could pave the way for transplanting porcine organs to humans without the risk of reigniting endogenous retroviruses.

Plants have so much to teach us.