title: Sectorial mutagenesis by transposable elements.
abstract: Transposable elements (TEs) generate insertions and cause other mutations in the genomic DNA. It is proposed that during co-evolution between TEs and eukaryotic genomes, an optimal path of the insertion mutagenesis is determined by the surviving TEs. These TEs can become semi-permanently established, chromatin-regulated 'source' or 'mutator genes', responsible for targeting insertion mutations to specific chromosomal regions. Such mutations can manifest themselves in non-random distribution patterns of interspersed repeats in eukaryotic chromosomes. In this paper we discuss specific models,examples and implications of optimized mutagenesis in eukaryotes.
authors.affiliation: Genetic Information Research Institute, Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1605, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jurka
authors.forename: V V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Kapitonov
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D002875:Chromosomes; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D010802:Phylogeny; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004247:DNA