TEs or not TEs? That is the evolutionary question.
Transposable elements (TEs) have contributed a wide range of functional sequences to their host genomes. A recent paper in BMC Molecular Biology discusses the creation of new transcripts by transposable element insertion upstream of retrocopies and the involvement of such insertions in tissue-specific post-transcriptional regulation.
Vaknin
Keren
K
Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69987, Israel. uakninke@post.tau.ac.il
Goren
Amir
A
Ast
Gil
G
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D017124:Conserved Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000941:ethics / Q000235:genetics*; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D017353:Gene Deletion; D018628:Gene Dosage / Q000235:genetics; D020440:Gene Duplication; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000235:genetics; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000502:physiology*; D049810:Genetic Speciation; D016678:Genome / Q000502:physiology*; D015894:Genome, Human / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional / Q000379:methods; D010802:Phylogeny
D004251:DNA Transposable Elements