Activity and Silencing of Transposable Elements in C. elegans

DNA Pub Date : 2024-04-02 DOI:10.3390/dna4020007
Sylvia E. J. Fischer
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Abstract

Since the discovery of transposable elements (TEs) in maize in the 1940s by Barbara McClintock transposable elements have been described as junk, as selfish elements with no benefit to the host, and more recently as major determinants of genome structure and genome evolution. TEs are DNA sequences that are capable of moving to new sites in the genome and making additional copies of themselves while doing so. To limit the propagation of TEs, host silencing mechanisms are directed at transposon-encoded genes that are required for mobilization. The mutagenic properties of TEs, the potential of TEs to form new genes and affect gene expression, together with the host silencing mechanisms, shape eukaryotic genomes and drive genome evolution. While TEs constitute more than half of the genome in many higher eukaryotes, transposable elements in the nematode C. elegans form a relatively small proportion of the genome (approximately 15%). Genetic studies of transposon silencing, and the discovery of RNA interference (RNAi) in C. elegans, propelled Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) to the forefront of studies of RNA-based mechanisms that silence TEs. Here, I will review the transposable elements that are present and active in the C. elegans genome, and the host defense mechanisms that silence these elements.
秀丽隐杆线虫中可转座元件的活性与沉默
自 20 世纪 40 年代芭芭拉-麦克林托克(Barbara McClintock)在玉米中发现可转座元件(Transposable elements,TEs)以来,可转座元件一直被描述为垃圾元件、对宿主无益的自私元件,最近则被描述为基因组结构和基因组进化的主要决定因素。转座元件是一种 DNA 序列,能够在基因组中移动到新的位点,并在移动的同时复制自己。为了限制 TE 的传播,宿主沉默机制针对的是转座子编码的基因,这些基因是转座子移动所必需的。转座因子的诱变特性、转座因子形成新基因和影响基因表达的潜力以及宿主沉默机制共同塑造了真核生物基因组,并推动了基因组进化。在许多高等真核生物中,TE 占基因组的一半以上,而在线虫秀丽隐杆线虫中,转座元件只占基因组相对较小的比例(约 15%)。对转座子沉默的遗传学研究以及 RNA 干扰(RNAi)在秀丽隐杆线虫中的发现,将秀丽隐杆线虫(C. elegans)推向了基于 RNA 的 TE 沉默机制研究的前沿。在这里,我将回顾一下在秀丽隐杆线虫基因组中存在和活跃的转座元件,以及使这些元件沉默的宿主防御机制。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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DNA
DNA
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