Perspective: Transposable Elements, Parasitic Dna, and Genome Evolution

Kidwell, Margaret G.; Lisch, Damon

doi:10.1111/j.0014-3820.2001.tb01268.x

Cited by 509 publications

(301 citation statements)

References 251 publications

(222 reference statements)

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“…A unique form of phenotypic plasticity that may result in evolutionary change is mutation in response to stress. Transposable element activity increases in response to stress in both plants (6) and animals (7). Similarly, under stressful conditions organisms can produce DNA polymerases (mutases) that replicate faulty or mutated DNA, potentially introducing solutions in an environment where novelty is required (46).…”

Section: Competitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Phenotypic Plasticity in the Interactions and Evolution of Species

Agrawal

2001

Science

1,355

1,065

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When individuals of two species interact, they can adjust their phenotypes in response to their respective partner, be they antagonists or mutualists. The reciprocal phenotypic change between individuals of interacting species can reflect an evolutionary response to spatial and temporal variation in species interactions and ecologically result in the structuring of food chains. The evolution of adaptive phenotypic plasticity has led to the success of organisms in novel habitats, and potentially contributes to genetic differentiation and speciation. Taken together, phenotypic responses in species interactions represent modifications that can lead to reciprocal change in ecological time, altered community patterns, and expanded evolutionary potential of species.

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Section: Competitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent advances in the understanding of transposable elements suggest that stress-induced retrotransposons may be a mechanism for nondirectional change. Defensive responses in plants and animals result in increased transpositional activity that may result in immunity to parasites (6,7 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Phenotypic Plasticity in the Interactions and Evolution of Species

Agrawal

2001

Science

1,355

1,065

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“…Finally, as mutators, mobile elements can induce variation for future evolution. Therefore, mobile elements should not be considered entirely selfish, but the relationship between a mobile element and its host might be understood as varying from extreme parasitism to mutualism (555).…”

Section: Horizontal Gene Transfer In Prokaryotesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bacterial Genome Instability

Darmon

Leach

2014

Microbiol Mol Biol Rev

336

289

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SUMMARY Bacterial genomes are remarkably stable from one generation to the next but are plastic on an evolutionary time scale, substantially shaped by horizontal gene transfer, genome rearrangement, and the activities of mobile DNA elements. This implies the existence of a delicate balance between the maintenance of genome stability and the tolerance of genome instability. In this review, we describe the specialized genetic elements and the endogenous processes that contribute to genome instability. We then discuss the consequences of genome instability at the physiological level, where cells have harnessed instability to mediate phase and antigenic variation, and at the evolutionary level, where horizontal gene transfer has played an important role. Indeed, this ability to share DNA sequences has played a major part in the evolution of life on Earth. The evolutionary plasticity of bacterial genomes, coupled with the vast numbers of bacteria on the planet, substantially limits our ability to control disease.

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“…Although endogenous mobile elements can be considered as mere 'genetic parasites', generator of the so-called 'junk' DNA, there is accumulating evidence that some of them were repeatedly co-opted by their host genomes to play beneficial functional roles [12][13][14]. Actually, the fact that such an extensive fraction of many eukaryotic genomes is composed of TE sequences should have led to the inference that their presence could be accommodated and was not irremediably detrimental to the fitness of the organisms harbouring them.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paleovirology of ‘ syncytins ’, retroviral env genes exapted for a role in placentation

Lavialle

Cornelis

Dupressoír

et al. 2013

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

339

307

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One contribution of 13 to a Theme Issue 'Paleovirology: insights from the genomic fossil record'. The development of the emerging field of 'paleovirology' allows biologists to reconstruct the evolutionary history of fossil endogenous retroviral sequences integrated within the genome of living organisms and has led to the retrieval of conserved, ancient retroviral genes 'exapted' by ancestral hosts to fulfil essential physiological roles, syncytin genes being undoubtedly among the most remarkable examples of such a phenomenon. Indeed, syncytins are 'new' genes encoding proteins derived from the envelope protein of endogenous retroviral elements that have been captured and domesticated on multiple occasions and independently in diverse mammalian species, through a process of convergent evolution. Knockout of syncytin genes in mice provided evidence for their absolute requirement for placenta development and embryo survival, via formation by cell-cell fusion of syncytial cell layers at the fetal-maternal interface. These genes of exogenous origin, acquired 'by chance' and yet still 'necessary' to carry out a basic function in placental mammals, may have been pivotal in the emergence of mammalian ancestors with a placenta from egg-laying animals via the capture of a founding retroviral env gene, subsequently replaced in the diverse mammalian lineages by new env-derived syncytin genes, each providing its host with a positive selective advantage.

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Perspective: Transposable Elements, Parasitic Dna, and Genome Evolution

Cited by 509 publications

References 251 publications

Phenotypic Plasticity in the Interactions and Evolution of Species

Phenotypic Plasticity in the Interactions and Evolution of Species

Bacterial Genome Instability

Paleovirology of ‘ syncytins ’, retroviral env genes exapted for a role in placentation

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