Reading between the LINEs to see into the past.
Transposable elements (TEs) are an important source of genome diversity and play a crucial role in genome evolution. A recent study by Zhao et al. describes novel patterns of TE diversification in the genome of the extinct mammoth Mammuthus primigenius. Analysis of Mammuthus has provided a unique genome landscape, a pivotal species for understanding TEs and genome evolution and hints at the diversity we verge on discovering by expanding our taxonomic sampling among genomes. Strategies based on this work might also revolutionize investigations of the interface between TE dynamics and genome diversity.
Ray
David A
DA
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Box 9650, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA.
Platt
Roy N
RN
Batzer
Mark A
MA
D000818:Animals; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D016678:Genome; D006801:Humans; D020071:Interspersed Repetitive Sequences; D020084:Long Interspersed Nucleotide Elements; D008322:Mammals / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D018626:Retroelements
D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D018626:Retroelements