title: Interactions between transposable elements and Argonautes have (probably) been shaping the Drosophila genome throughout evolution.
abstract: Transposable elements (TEs) are powerful mutagenic agents responsible for generating variation in the host genome. As TEs can be overtly deleterious, a variety of different mechanisms have evolved to keep their activities in check. In plants, fungi, and animals, RNA silencing has been implicated as a major defense against repetitive element transposition. This nucleic acid-based defense mechanism also appears to be directed at inherited silencing of TEs without altering the underlying DNA sequence. Complex interactions between TEs and RNA silencing machineries have been co-opted to regulate cellular genes.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Genome Research, The University of Tokushima, 3-18-15 Kuramoto, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan. siomi@genome.tokushima-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Haruhiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Siomi
authors.forename: Mikiko C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Siomi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D020868:Gene Silencing; D049750:Genome, Insect / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D012313:RNA / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D012313:RNA