Transposable elements (TEs), also called jumping genes, are genetic elements capable of changing their position within the genome of their host. They make up large fractions of genomes, including 45% of human DNA content, according to current estimates.S ...
The human genome encodes some 350 Kruppel-associated box (KRAB) domain-containing zinc-finger proteins (KZFPs), the products of a rapidly evolving gene family that has been traced back to early tetrapods(1,2). The function of most KZFPs is unknown, but a f ...
Transposable elements (TEs) are DNA sequences able to change position in the genome, and represent more than 40% of mammalian genetic material. TEs can have positive or detrimental effects on the host, being both important motors of evolution and genomic t ...
KAP1 is a universal corepressor for the large family of KRAB-ZFP proteins that coordinates epigenetic silencing of endogenous retroelements (EREs) during early embryonic development. This process is essential not just to prevent replication of EREs, but al ...
Mobile elements are important evolutionary forces that challenge genomic integrity. Long interspersed element-1 (L1, also known as LINE-1) is the only autonomous transposon still active in the human genome. It displays an unusual pattern of evolution, with ...
"There is more virus in us than us in us". John Coffin's famous sentence illustrates that particular nucleic acid sequences related to exogenous viruses, called retrotransposons, constitute almost half of the human genome and largely exceeds the amount of ...
Transgenic animals are essential research tools, whether to address basic biological questions or to develop preclinical models of human diseases. Their generation through the injection of naked plasmid DNA into the male pronucleus of a fertilized oocyte h ...