title: LINEing germ and embryonic stem cells' silencing of retrotransposons.
abstract: Almost half of our genome is occupied by transposable elements. Although most of them are inactive, one type of non-long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposon, long interspersed nuclear element 1 (LINE1), is capable of retrotransposition. Two studies in this issue, Pezic and colleagues (pp. 1410-1428) and Castro-Diaz and colleagues (pp. 1397-1409), provide novel insight into the regulation of LINE1s in human embryonic stem cells and mouse germ cells and shed new light on the conservation of complex mechanisms to ensure silencing of transposable elements in mammals.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, CNRS/INSERM U964, Université de Strasbourg, F-67404 Illkirch, C.U. de Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishiuchi
authors.affiliation: Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, CNRS/INSERM U964, Université de Strasbourg, F-67404 Illkirch, C.U. de Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Maria-Elena
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Torres-Padilla
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005854:Germ Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D020084:Long Interspersed Nucleotide Elements / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D034741:RNA, Small Interfering
keywords: DNA methylation; KAP1; LINE1; evolution; piRNA; transposon