title: Home and away- the evolutionary dynamics of homing endonucleases.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Homing endonucleases (HEases) are a large and diverse group of site-specific DNAases. They reside within self-splicing introns and inteins, and promote their horizontal dissemination. In recent years, HEases have been the focus of extensive research due to their promising potential use in gene targeting procedures for the treatment of genetic diseases and for the genetic engineering of crop, animal models and cell lines.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using mathematical analysis and computational modeling, we present here a novel account for the evolution and population dynamics of HEase genes (HEGs). We describe HEGs as paradoxical selfish elements whose long-term persistence in a single population relies on low transmission rates and a positive correlation between transmission efficiency and toxicity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Plausible conditions allow HEGs to sustain at high frequency through long evolutionary periods, with the endonuclease frequency being either at equilibrium or periodically oscillating. The predictions of our model may prove important not only for evolutionary theory but also for gene therapy and bio-engineering applications of HEases.
authors: Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, 69978, Israel. abarzel@stanford.edu
authors: Adi
authors: A
authors: Barzel
authors: Uri
authors: U
authors: Obolski
authors: Johann Peter
authors: JP
authors: Gogarten
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: Kupiec
authors: Lilach
authors: L
authors: Hadany
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004720:Endonucleases / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D007438:Introns; D008957:Models, Genetic
chemical_list: D004720:Endonucleases