Selfish genes, the phenotype paradigm and genome evolution

Doolittle, W. Ford; Sapienza, Carmen

doi:10.1038/284601a0

Cited by 1,667 publications

(854 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…These transposable elements can make up large portions of the genome (113). They apparently exist as parasites of the functional part of the genome, that is, the part that carries out the tasks involved in constructing and maintaining a functional organism (114). Tranposition by transposable elements is often harmful to the host organism (115).…”

Section: Transposable Genetic Elementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intragenomic conflict and cancer

2002

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Summary Intragenomic conflict occurs when some elements within the genome produce effects that enhance their own probability of replication or transmission at the expense of other elements within the same genome. Here it is proposed that mutations involved in intragenomic conflict are particularly likely to be co-opted by evolving lineages of cancer cells, and hence should be associated with the occurrence of cancer. We discuss several types of intragenomic conflict that are associated with various forms of cancer. ª

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Section: Transposable Genetic Elementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intragenomic conflict and cancer

2002

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“…Initially, transposable elements and other repeats were suggested to play intrinsic roles in the regulation of gene expression (1,2) but later they were regarded as parasitic or ''junk'' DNA possessing no phenotypic impact. (3,4) Recent evidence, however, indicates that many transposable elements as well as simple-sequence tandem repeats were utilized in evolution to create new regulatory signals in proteincoding and RNA-coding genes. Examples of the association of transcription regulatory motifs with transposable elements have been summarized earlier in many reviews.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regulation of mammalian gene expression by retroelements and non‐coding tandem repeats

Tomilin

2008

BioEssays

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Genomes of higher eukaryotes contain abundant non‐coding repeated sequences whose overall biological impact is unclear. They comprise two categories. The first consists of retrotransposon‐derived elements. These are three major families of retroelements (LINEs, SINEs and LTRs). SINEs are clustered in gene‐rich regions and are found in promoters of genes while LINEs are concentrated in gene‐poor regions and are depleted from promoters. The second class consists of non‐coding tandem repeats (satellite DNAs and TTAGGG arrays), which are associated with mammalian centromeres, heterochromatin and telomeres. Terminal TTAGGG arrays are involved in telomere capping and satellite DNAs are located in heterochromatin, which is implicated in transcription silencing by gene repositioning (relocalization). It is unknown whether interstitial TTAGGG sequences, which are present in many vertebrates, have a function. Here, evidence will be presented that retroelements and TTAGGG arrays are involved in regulation of gene expression. Retroelements can provide binding sites for transcription factors and protect promoter CpG islands from repressive chromatin modifications, and may be also involved in nuclear compartmentalization of transcriptionally active and inactive domains. Interstitial telomere‐like sequences can form dynamically maintained three‐dimensional nuclear networks of transcriptionally inactive domains, which may be involved in transcription silencing like classic heterochromatin. BioEssays 30:338–348, 2008. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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“…Because tandemly repeated sequences are so abundant and appear to have little or no functional significance, they are commonly regarded as ''selfish'' or ''junk'' DNA (Doolittle and Sapienza 1980;Orgel and Crick 1980). Studies of tandem repeats have generally focused on determining the nucleotide sequence, abundance, genomic organization, and/or species distribution of the repeats (Willard 1989).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of Tandemly Repeated Sequences: What Happens at the End of an Array?

McAllister

Werren

1999

J Mol Evol

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Abstract. Tandemly repeated sequences are a major component of the eukaryotic genome. Although the general characteristics of tandem repeats have been well documented, the processes involved in their origin and maintenance remain unknown. In this study, a region on the paternal sex ratio (PSR) chromosome was analyzed to investigate the mechanisms of tandem repeat evolution. The region contains a junction between a tandem array of PSR2 repeats and a copy of the retrotransposon NATE, with other dispersed repeats (putative mobile elements) on the other side of the element. Little similarity was detected between the sequence of PSR2 and the region of NATE flanking the array, indicating that the PSR2 repeat did not originate from the underlying NATE sequence. However, a short region of sequence similarity (11/15 bp) and an inverted region of sequence identity (8 bp) are present on either side of the junction. These short sequences may have facilitated nonhomologous recombination between NATE and PSR2, resulting in the formation of the junction. Adjacent to the junction, the three most terminal repeats in the PSR2 array exhibited a higher sequence divergence relative to internal repeats, which is consistent with a theoretical prediction of the unequal exchange model for tandem repeat evolution. Other NATE insertion sites were characterized which show proximity to both tandem repeats and complex DNAs containing additional dispersed repeats. An ''accretion model'' is proposed to account for this association by the accumulation of mobile elements at the ends of tandem arrays and into ''islands'' within arrays. Mobile elements inserting into arrays will tend to migrate into islands and to array ends, due to the turnover in the number of intervening repeats.

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Selfish genes, the phenotype paradigm and genome evolution

Cited by 1,667 publications

References 45 publications

Intragenomic conflict and cancer

Intragenomic conflict and cancer

Regulation of mammalian gene expression by retroelements and non‐coding tandem repeats

Evolution of Tandemly Repeated Sequences: What Happens at the End of an Array?

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