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FAMILY OF JUMPING GENES. “Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are endogenous viral elements in the genome that closely resemble and can be derived from retroviruses. ... ERVs are a subclass of a type of gene called a transposon, which can be packaged and moved within the genome to serve a vital role in gene expression and in regulation.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endogenous_retrovirus View in LinkedIn

JUMPING GENE UBIQUITY. “Genome sequence mining over the past decade has revealed that such endogenous viral elements are more widespread and diverse than ever imagined, spanning every major type of virus and a wide range of host organisms and unearthing a precious fossil record of past viral infections.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959437X17301685 View in LinkedIn

MASSIVE AND MESSY ORIGIN. “The evidence that TEs shape eukaryotic genomes is by now incontrovertible. My thesis, then, is that TEs and the transposases they encode underlie the evolvability of higher eukaryotes' massive, messy genomes.” http://science.sciencemag.org/content/338/6108/758 View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE continues from last weekend and concludes on the fascinating theme of jumping genes. They push the boundaries of what constitutes a living beastie. Their contribution to life on this planet has been enormous. But, as always, we have just scratched the surface of this story. View in LinkedIn

NEW VIEW. “I contend that it is precisely the elaboration of epigenetic mechanisms from their prokaryotic origins as suppressors of genetic exchanges that underlies both the genome expansion and the proliferation of TEs characteristic of higher eukaryotes. This is the inverse of the prevailing view that epigenetic mechanisms evolved to control the disruptive potential of TEs.” http://science.sciencemag.org/content/338/6108/758 View in LinkedIn

IMMORTAL GENES. “Birth and death is one of the characteristics of living thing, DNA appeared in the living and it is not having birth point to have death point. So, DNA is non-living because it never dies.” https://lnkd.in/dMinrW7 View in LinkedIn

DRIVER OF NEW SPECIES. “It has long been hypothesized that TEs could drive host diversification, reinforce population divergence, and promote reproductive isolation (for instance through processes akin to hybrid dysgenesis), ultimately leading to speciation.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959437X17301685 View in LinkedIn

VIRAL IMPACT ON EVOLUTION. “Recent large-scale analyses suggest that HTT is pervasive in plants and animals and instrumental to the long-term evolutionary persistence of most types of TE.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959437X17301685 View in LinkedIn

TOO MUCH JARGON. The key for the remainder of today’s posts. (ERV= Endogenous retroviruses); (TE = transposable elements, jumping genes); (HT = horizontal transfer); (HTT = horizontal transfer of TEs). View in LinkedIn

FOREIGN GENE CONTRIBUTION. “In insects for example, it was estimated that ∼2% of the nuclear genome on average (and up to 24%) derives from horizontally-transferred TEs, a figure that likely remains a gross underestimate. The picture is similar in bats where at least 6% of the Myotis lucifugus genome derives from horizontally-acquired Helitrons.” (TE = transposable elements, jumping genes). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959437X17301685 View in LinkedIn